Naryshkin: Russia to suspend involvement in PACE in case of another attempt to limit its powers
MOSCOW. Jan 19 (Interfax) - The Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is likely to suspend its involvement in PACE activity in the near future if its powers are limited again at the January session, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said.
"I am eyeing an optimistic scenario," Naryshkin said when Interfax asked him about a possible recurrence of last April's situation in which the PACE deprived the Russian delegation of a number of key powers.
"And if another opinion wins I personally doubt the expediency to carry on our work on the PACE platform, at least for a year," Naryshkin said.
Indeed any delegation has the right to suggest its own draft resolution regarding powers of a national delegation and present it for the Assembly's consideration, Naryshkin said.
"If such a draft resolution is presented for the Assembly's consideration it will clearly be discussed. We will be proving our case," the speaker underscored.
"I still have confidence in the common sense of European parliamentarians working on the platform of the Parliamentary Assembly, an authoritative parliamentary body needed by Europe," Naryshkin said.
Following Crimea's return to Russia, the Russian delegation was stripped of its main powers at the Assembly in April 2014: it was deprived of voting rights and the right to be a member of monitoring missions and ruling bodies of the PACE. The Russian delegation left the session in protest and refused to attend another two sessions held in summer and fall. Powers of all national delegations are supposed to be automatically confirmed in January but a group of parliamentarians from at least five countries (at least 30 persons) may question powers of a national delegation fully or partially. Sources in the Assembly said that such an initiative was pending as regards the Russian delegation and would be presented on Monday. The session starts in Strasbourg on January 26. The Assembly's Presidential Committee (ruling body) will convene on January 25 and Naryshkin will attend it at the invitation of PACE President Anne Brasseur.
