Russophobic Sentiment Prevalent Among PACE Lawmakers - Agramunt Representative

MADRID (Sputnik) — The latest Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decisions on its president, Pedro Argamunt, testify that a Russophobic sentiment reigns among the lawmakers, Agramunt's representative told Sputnik Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, Agramunt was expelled from his political group in the assembly. The day before, PACE adopted a resolution, amending the regulations, allowing to begin the process of Agramunt's removal from office. The reason behind the move was the situation with Agramunt when the assembly expressed him a vote of no confidence due to a visit to Syria in March, but was unable to remove him from office as current PACE regulations did not provide grounds for the president’s dismissal.

"There is a Russophobic wave in the assembly against any person who is trying to integrate European countries into a pan-European organization that is larger than the European Union," the representative said.

The representative added that some PACE members from Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic states and Scandinavian countries were able to create a "climate of fear" in the assembly that prevents representatives of other countries from expressing their opinions freely because of fears of "being subjected to repressions of all kinds."