... Jennifer Cole, Klaus Dodds:
The Coronavirus Pandemic: Global Challenges Requires Global Cooperation
The current exacerbation in relations between Russia and the Council of Europe, orchestrated from outside the Council of Europe, goes back to 2014. PACE accused Russia of “occupation” and “aggression” and stripped the Federal Assembly’s delegation of its voting right and the right to participate in the Assembly’s governing bodies and missions. In response, the Federal Assembly “slammed the door” ...
... inter-parliamentary dialogue on intergovernmental discussions, where national interests are more clearly formulated and defended.
But reality always turns out to be more complex. Only the recently overcome crisis (
Steininger
2018) in relations between Russia and PACE is a clear illustration of this. After the 2014 events that lead to the Crimean referendum, in PACE discussions have prevailed a point of view that excluded Russia from the list of states committed to the values and principles of the Council of Europe,...
... “sanction chain” around Russia is broken”.
For such an exalted assessment, as almost all experts and representatives of the political establishment, who do not know well PACE, considered, there were good reasons.
The first, the delegation returned to PACE on Russian terms. Moscow demanded that PACE remove from its rules of procedure the very possibility of imposing such sanctions. The Assembly went for it.
The second, in response to depravation of Russian parliamentarians of major natural rights, Russia first ...
... bodies to apply European experience in various sectors. They think Russia’s inclusion will make it possible to align the two sides’ positions and reach compromises on at least some issues on the PACE agenda. The most optimistic among them hope that Russia’s return to PACE could even herald a breakthrough in relations between Moscow and Europe.
The skeptics don’t believe Moscow wants to be constructive, and suspect the Russian delegation will use the assembly’s podium mainly to promote Kremlin propaganda and drive ...
... discrimination of member states or their representatives on a national basis. The statute does not endow PACE with such powers. Accordingly, PACE committed a violation of the Charter in respect of the delegation of the Federal Assembly.
But if so, then PACE committed a violation against the Russian Federation as a whole. It must be terminated. The relevant PACE resolutions are declared invalid or not valid from the moment of adoption. The Russian Federation and the delegation of the Federal Assembly representing the Russians are restored ...
