CoE decision to suspend Russia 'blatantly politicized' - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW. Feb 26 (Interfax) - The decision by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) to suspend Russia's CoE membership is blatantly politicized, the country's Foreign Ministry said.

"This blatantly politicized decision of the Committee is further evidence that the Council of Europe has lost its independence, having turned into an obedient tool of the Western bloc and its satellites, mired deep in double standards," the ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a comment published on the ministry's website on Saturday.

Yesterday the CoE Committee of Ministers voted to suspend Russia's membership, ostensibly, for Russia's current special military operation in Ukraine. "In practice, that means that Russia is now deprived of the possibility to participate in the work of CoE agencies," Zakharova said.

The Strasburg-based organization positions itself as the leading human rights campaigner on the continent, she said. "However, over the course of eight years since the bloody coup in Ukraine, it has still not found the strength to condemn the nationalist Kyivan regime's criminal policy of genocide against the people of Donbas, preferring to turn a blind eye on the atrocities of Ukrainian lynchers who murdered thousands of civilians.

"When our country decided to put an end to these atrocities and stood up for its compatriots and citizens, the CoE demonstrated extraordinary zeal and swiftness, joining the chorus of the Russia-accusers.

"Well, it's not our choice. We will decide on our further steps very soon. The whole responsibility for destroying the common legal and humanitarian space on the continent, for the inevitable bad consequences for the CoE itself, will lie with those who instigated and supported this flawed decision. Without Russia, the CoE will lose its pan-European identity and ultimately, the very meaning of existence."