CoE secretary general election held with Russian delegation's participation
STRASBOURG. June 26 (Interfax) - The Russian delegation got to vote in the election of a Council of Europe (CoE) secretary general, Russia's permanent representative to the CoE Ivan Soltanovsky told journalists.
When asked by Interfax whether the Russian delegates had enough time to vote in the election of a CoE secretary general and for Leonid Slutsky as a PACE vice president, Soltanovsky said: "Yes, they did both."
Earlier the Russian delegation said that it would not vote in the PACE's secretary general election until its powers are confirmed.
The first vote ended at 6 p.m. local time, the second one took place around the same time.
"We got into a technical zeitnot [need of time]," Soltanovsky said. There was a possibility that the Russian delegation would not make it, but thanks to PACE President Liliane Maurie Pasquier's actions, such situation was avoided, he said. "This moment is important," Soltanovsky said.