Russian lawmaker says PACE can join efforts for Ukraine crisis settlement

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe /PACE/ has isolated itself from participation in resolving the Ukraine crisis although it could have played a different - constructive - role, Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the committee for international affairs at the Federation Council upper chamber of parliament, said at a meeting with Petr Sich, head of the Council of Europe programme office in the Russian Federation. "You know, I am a strong advocate for Russia’s cooperation with the Council of Europe and I am certain that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe can play an absolutely different role in the context of the current crisis in Ukraine," Kosachev said. "But unfortunately, a certain radical policy sometimes takes the upper hand at the PACE. So despite an impression that everything is being done rightly and to the maximum degree, in essence, the Parliamentary Assembly happens to find itself isolated from the process that is underway at other organisations, in particular, at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly." In January at its session the PACE made a decision to extend sanctions against the Russian delegation and to deprive it of the right to vote and to take part in the Assembly’s governing bodies. The developments aroused then a question "whether the Council of Europe has any added value for Russia." Russian lawmakers had filed a request with the Foreign Ministry to collect and submit the information on the issue to the upper chamber, Kosachev said. Read more