Russia suspends participation in PACE till yearendJanuary 29, 2015 - 10:47 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia is suspending its participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) till the end of the year, Russian delegation head Alexei Pushkov said after PACE had decided to strip Russia of the right to vote and take part in the Assembly’s governing bodies until April 2015, TASS reported. "I would like to stress that until today Russia has never admitted a possibility of quitting the Council of Europe, but PACE’s decision puts such a possibility on the agenda," he said, adding that "the issue of Russia’s participation in the Council of Europe will be considered at the end of 2015 depending on the political situation." Commenting on PACE’s repeated stripping the Russian delegation of the right to vote, Pushkov said that in response Russia was suspending its participation till the end of 2015. "There is nothing unexpected here," he said. "PACE is free to tackle those issues it wants without cooperating with Russia… We warned our colleagues, the PACE governing bodies, leaders of political groups that should Russia be deprived of basic rights, the Russian delegation will suspend its participation at least till the end of 2015." Pushkov said it did not matter if the Russian delegation’s right were suspended till April of till June, as has been initially planned. "We are leaving the Parliamentary Assembly till the end of this year. We congratulate the Parliamentary Assembly on passing this wrong, to my mind, decision which harms seriously the common European inter-parliamentary dialogue and drives PACE off this dialogue, since the absence of the Russian delegation makes a void exercise of any debates within the organization," Pushkov said. According to him, PACE’s decision only enhances the role of other organizations, such as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). "The role of other organizations that include the Russian Federation and that have no institution of sanctions will grow significantly. We plan to concentrate on the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly," he said Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | India wants Armenia’s proposals on use of Chabahar port India is expecting proposals from Armenia regarding the use of Chabahar port in Iran, Indian ambassador says. EU welcomes Armenia-Azerbaijan “progress” The EU has welcomed “progress” made in the framework of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border delimitation process. Belarus opposition leader slams Lukashenko for Karabakh trip Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has harshly criticized the visit of Lukashenko to Karabakh. Mkhitaryan raises arrest of former Karabakh leaders in Azerbaijan Inter Milan star Henrikh Mkhitaryan has shared a news story about the extension of the arrest of former Karabakh leaders. |