Russian delegates not going to attend PACE session until all rights restored
MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) - The Russian delegation will not attend the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), unless PACE signals its readiness to fully restore all rights of the delegation prior to the session, said Ivan Melnikov, State Duma First Deputy Speaker (Communist Party) and a member of the Russian delegation to PACE.
"Until the Assembly signals to us its readiness to return the Russian delegation's rights in full, including the voting right, we will not take part in PACE proceedings, nor travel to the session," Melnikov told Interfax on Friday.
At the moment, the odds of the delegation being reinstated in all its rights are 50/50, he said.
The PACE winter session starts on January 25.
"The ball is in PACE's court. If they intend to confirm our powers and rights on a full scale - that is one situation, there are things to talk about here. If not, then we have no reason to change our position," the senior State Duma member said.
The number of Assembly members calling for the rights of the Russian delegation to be restored in full has increased over the past year, Melnikov said. "Whether there will be enough of them [for a favorable resolution of the issue] is still a question," he said.
"I maintain regular contact with the PACE group of the left, which is the driving force behind the issue of reinstating Russian parliamentarians in their rights," said the first deputy speaker of the State Duma.
The assembly suspended the Russian delegation in 2014, having stripped it of the right to vote, be represented in senior PACE bodies and monitor elections, over the situation around Crimea and southeastern Ukraine. In 2015, a majority in the Assembly reaffirmed these 'sanctions', prompting the Russian delegation to refuse to take part in PACE proceedings and effectively suspend all communication with it.
According to the established procedure, at a January session PACE national delegations have their mandates confirmed, and, as it already transpired, there have been proposals within the Assembly to extend the sanctions against the Russian delegation.
Russian Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin told Interfax on Wednesday that whether or not the Russian delegation would attend the January session, and if so, who in particular, will be announced next Monday.