“This is a typical game for the Council of Europe to seek to pre-empt in a very non-gentlemen manner. Thorbjørn Jagland makes such statements as the Secretary-General, who have been cornered,” said Leonid Slutskiy
Leonid Eduardovich
, commenting on the statement of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe that the Russian Federation could be expelled from the statutory bodies of the Council of Europe if it doesn’t resume contributions until mid-2019.
At the same time, the parliamentarian noted that “we are simply tired of the endless Russophobic hysteria, tired of destructive approach, discrimination and double standards in PACE, which have nothing in common with the spirit of democracy and the rule of law”.
“The four-year crisis in relations with the Assembly has created a situation where a delegation of a country that has been one of the main contributors of the Council of Europe for many years does not participate in the election of ECHR judges and Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. Accordingly, our cooperation with these institutions of the Council of Europe is becoming less and less legitimate,” said the Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs.
Leonid Slutskiy expressed the opinion that perhaps Russia should think about suspending CE membership itself without waiting for an expulsion: “I say this with sincere regret, because the widest European platform may be lost. However, today's destructiveness of the organization and its institutions, primarily PACE, suggests that perhaps we should think about suspending or freezing Russia's membership in the Council of Europe, not waiting for the expulsion procedure to begin”.
