PACE to consider ‘Crimean sanctions’ against RF delegation

STRASBOURG, April 10 (Itar-Tass) - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Thursday will consider the issue of sanctions against the Russian delegation for the reunification of Crimea with Russia. The Assembly will discuss a report on the head of the PACE Monitoring Committee, Stefan Schennach which deals with the RF delegation’s powers in the PACE. The reporter proposes to choose the so-called “soft variant” of the sanctions and deprive the RF delegation of the right to vote at PACE meetings until the end of the year, but not to freeze Russia’s membership in the Assembly, as British MP Robert Walter proposes. The concept of the report has been supported by two-thirds of the PACE relevant committee. Schennach’s draft resolution calls Russia’s action on reunification with Crimea a “violation of international law.” Thereby, the PACE intends to denounce “the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity” and send “a strong message” to Moscow. The draft resolution also says that “a political dialogue should remain the most preferable method of search for compromise” and that “there should be no return to the cold war stereotypes.” The suspension of the Russian delegation’s powers would make such a dialogue impossible, admit parliamentarians of the Council of Europe. In this connection, the PACE in its resolution is ready “to confirm the powers of the Russian delegation,” but at the same time “to suspend its right to vote until the end of the 2014 session.” Head of the RF delegation in PACE, chairman of the international affairs committee at the State Duma lower house of parliament Aleksei Pushkov has stated that “Russia is ready for dialogue with the PACE,” but “if the issue of stripping the RF delegation of its powers in the Assembly is raised, it will quit the organisation itself.” “We will not stick to an organisation that is ready to exclude us,” Pushkov added. Deputy head of the RF delegation, chairman of the Duma committee on CIS affairs Leonid Slutsky said for his part that any “Crimean sanctions” of the PACE are unlawful and unjustified. “But not to vote does not mean to keep silent, so we will continue to stand our ground,” he said. Learn more on itar-tass.com