Russia won’t ever fulfill certain PACE resolutions upon return, diplomat says

The Russian government won’t ever fulfill certain
resolution approved by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
should it return to its activity, Russian Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee
Head Konstantin Kosachev said during his Jan. 23 visit to Strasbourg, as
reported by the eurointegration.com.ua news site. He attended an ad hoc
committee meeting to discuss the possibility of Russia renewing its
participation in PACE. In response, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called for
intensified sanctions against Russia for making the statement. “The Russian
Federation doesn’t only not fulfill PACE resolutions, but international law on
the whole,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa. “It understands
the language of strength and sanctions.”

Volodymyr Ariev, the newly elected PACE vice president
and head of the Ukrainian delegation, said several countries – including
Ukraine – will withdraw from PACE if it decides to remove its sanctions from
Russia. “We all understand that a special committee is being created to amend
rules and procedures since the Russian Federation is supposed to return to the
assembly and pay its debt to the Council of Europe,” he told the ad hoc
committee. “That’s a kind of blackmail. It’s similar to amending the criminal
code so that a criminal isn’t a criminal. That’s what we’re getting ready to
do. We’re supposed to seriously think about that.”

The Russian government didn’t pay EUR 22.3 mln in 2017
and might not pay EUR 33.8 mln due this year, which “threatens the normal work
of the Council of Europe,” Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen told the
PACE session on Jan. 23. The Russian delegation said it would consider
returning to the Council’s activities if current sanctions are canceled and no
more future sanctions are imposed.

Zenon Zawada: A serious conflict has begun and it’s unclear whether a compromise will
be reached. What we view as certain is that PACE canceling the sanctions would
set a precedent for the rest of the European legislatures to follow.