Russia to freeze its Council of Europe's membership?

Politics 10:45 11.10.2018

Chairman of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky has said that Russia should think about freezing its membership in the Council of Europe, without waiting for expulsion.

"The destructiveness of the organizations and its institutions, particularly PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe], makes one think that we should probably consider temporarily suspending or freezing Russia's membership in the Council of Europe, without waiting for anti-Russian bureaucrats to initiate an expulsion procedure," Slutsky told journalists.

The Kommersant daily earlier reported that Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland told the PACE autumn session that the organization's Committee of Ministers will have to expel Russia from the Council of Europe if the country does not make monetary contributions. In accordance with the Statute of the Council of Europe, the Committee of Ministers may temporarily suspend membership of a country that has not been making monetary contirbutions for two years. Russia stopped making contributions in 2017 against the backdrop of a crisis in relations with PACE. The two-year timeframe for failure to make monetary contirbutions will end for Russia in June 2019.

"This is a typical attempt of the Council of Europe to stay ahead of the curve in a rather ungentlemanly situation. Jagland makes his statements like someone who was cornered. He is neither pro-Russian nor anti-Russian. He is the top official at the Council of Europe who just needs more funds," Slutsky noted.

Russia is "just tired from endless Russophobic hysteria, tired from negativity, discrimination and double standards at PACE, which have nothing to do with the common spirit of democracy and supremacy of law," the Russian parliament member said. "The four-year long crisis in relations with PACE has created the situation when a country's delegation, after being one of main monetary contributors for many years, does not participate in elections of ECHR [European Court of Human Rights] judges and of the Council of Europe's High Commissioner for Human Rights. Consequently, our cooperation with these institutions of the Council of Europe is becoming less and less legitimate," he said.




 

IEPF issued a statement regarding Azerbaijani children at the UN Human Rights Council

News line

Drone attack in Russia's Udmurtia leaves three dead, dozens injured
20:15 01.07.2025
Billionaire Musk vows to launch new political party if controversial Trump bill passes Congress
20:00 01.07.2025
Broken Friendship: Azerbaijan–Russia Relations INTERVIEW
19:40 01.07.2025
Baku to host D-8 Youth Forum in July
19:30 01.07.2025
Speaker: Armenia should seriously begin discussing issue of stopping broadcasting Russian TV channels
19:20 01.07.2025
Russian Foreign Ministry: Azerbaijani envoy handed verbal note
19:15 01.07.2025
Azerbaijan signs $173.5M loan agreement with WB for renewable energy project
19:00 01.07.2025
Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan ink several documents to diversify economic partnership
18:45 01.07.2025
Another group of Ukrainian children arrive in Azerbaijan for rehabilitation
18:15 01.07.2025
IEPF Launches a Series of Trainings for NGOs
18:14 01.07.2025
Sahil Babayev: Azerbaijan aims to become green energy exporter
18:00 01.07.2025
Azerbaijani minister: Youth action plan to be drafted at international event in Aghdam
17:45 01.07.2025
Azerbaijan launches criminal case into killing of Azerbaijani brothers in Russia
17:30 01.07.2025
European diplomats visit West Bank town after deadly attack by Israeli settlers
17:15 01.07.2025
Poland’s president calls on gov’t to stop entry of migrants from Germany
17:00 01.07.2025
Artists, writers urge UK government not to ban pro-Palestine group
16:45 01.07.2025
China's Communist Party tops 100 million members in ‘significant milestone’
16:30 01.07.2025
China says ‘complicated’ boundary dispute with India will take time to resolve
16:15 01.07.2025
Severe weather batters Italy, leaving two dead and multiple regions on alert
16:00 01.07.2025
Azerbaijan detains Russian citizens in Baku suspected of drug trafficking, online fraud
15:50 01.07.2025
China sanctions former Philippines senator over 'egregious conduct' on Beijing-related issues
15:30 01.07.2025
Meta fined over $512,000 by Taiwan for lack of transparency over advertisers
15:15 01.07.2025
Trump says Musk would ‘head back to South Africa’ without US subsidies for EVs
15:00 01.07.2025
Azerbaijani brothers murdered in Russia hit with blunt instrument, examinations reveal
14:45 01.07.2025
Kazakhstan commends top-tier organization of ECO Youth Forum in Azerbaijan's Aghdam
14:30 01.07.2025
U.S. Charge d'Affaires hails Azerbaijan’s support in ensuring safe evacuation country's citizens from Iran
14:15 01.07.2025
Slovakia appoints Azerbaijani native as ambassador to Baku
14:00 01.07.2025
Fitch reveals forecast for Azerbaijan's state budget deficit in 2025
13:45 01.07.2025
WSJ: Amazon is on the cusp of using more robots than Humans in its warehouses
13:30 01.07.2025
Politico: EC ready to allow countries to restrict access to social networks by age
13:15 01.07.2025
Azerbaijani brothers murdered in Russia hit with blunt instrument, examinations reveal
13:00 01.07.2025
Azerbaijani official elected vice-president of international conference
12:45 01.07.2025
US approves $510M sale of munitions guidance kits to Israel
12:30 01.07.2025
Death toll in India factory blast rises to 34
12:25 01.07.2025
Azerbaijani ambassador leaves Russian Foreign Ministry building
12:15 01.07.2025
Iranian president to attend ECO summit in Azerbaijan's Khankandi
12:10 01.07.2025
Russia summons Azerbaijani ambassador
12:00 01.07.2025
Iran-linked hackers threaten to release Trump aides' emails
11:45 01.07.2025
Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip leave 95 Palestinians killed
11:30 01.07.2025
Israel shoots down over 1,000 Iranian drones — permanent representative to UN
11:15 01.07.2025
Hamısı