PACE decides on sanctions against Russian delegation
STRASBOURG. April 10 (Interfax) - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Thursday stripped the Russian delegation of the right to vote until the end of this year and imposed a number of other sanctions. The tougher sanctions for Crimea (suspension of the delegation's powers for the same period) were not supported.
The document adopted by PACE says that PACE is suspending the Russian delegation's right to vote until the end of the 2014 session to express its condemnation and disapproval of the actions taken by the Russian Federation concerning Ukraine.
Russian officials will not be able to work in the PACE administrative structures and participate in election monitoring, either.
The resolution was backed by 145 PACE members, 21 voted against it, and 22 abstained. In accordance with the PACE regulations, the Russian delegation did not vote on this issue concerning it.
The resolution calls Russia's actions an "annexation of Crimea" and an "armed occupation" of Ukrainian territory. Russia is accused of threatening to use military force and recognizing the results of an illegal referendum.
PACE believes that all this violates international law, including the UN Charter and the OSCE Helsinki Final Act.
The Russian delegation was first stripped of its right to vote in PACE in April 2000, when PACE adopted a resolution condemning Russia for "human rights violations in Chechnya." The powers of the Russian delegation were upheld, but members of the delegation were stripped of their right to vote. The Russian delegation then responded by leaving the session room.
The decision was made despite the recommendations given by the PACE Political Committee, which had called for the powers of the Russian delegation to be fully upheld.
The Russian parliamentarians regained the right to vote in January 2001.
In the fall 2009 session, an attempt was made to reconsider the powers of the Russian delegation in PACE, including to strip it of its right to vote. A group of deputies representing all PACE factions and over twenty European countries put forward such an initiative over Russia's position on South Ossetia in 2008. However, PACE then rejected the resolution, fully upholding the powers of the Russian delegation.
