Russia suspends its participation in PACE until end of year
Pushkov said it did not matter if the Russian delegation’s right were suspended till April of till June, as has been initially planned.
"We are leaving the Parliamentary Assembly till the end of this year. We congratulate the Parliamentary Assembly on passing this wrong, to my mind, decision which harms seriously the common European inter-parliamentary dialogue and drives PACE off this dialogue, since the absence of the Russian delegation makes a void exercise of any debates within the organization," Pushkov said.
In his words, PACE’s decision only enhances the role of other organizations, such as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe/ OSCE/. "The role of other organizations that include the Russian Federation and that have no institution of sanctions will grow significantly. We plan to concentrate of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly," he said.