PACE ratified the credentials of the Russian delegation

In particular, 24 Ukrainian sailors detained by Russian border guards in the Kerch Strait were returned to Ukraine.

Parliamentarians from the PACE Monitoring Committee, which prepared the draft resolution, also noted that ”some progress has been made with regard to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements“ in relation to the Donbass.

The merits of the Russian Federation also include participation in prisoners swaps with Ukraine.

In addition, the resolution notes that in respect of its financial obligations towards the Council of Europe, the Russian Federation paid all due contributions.

At the opening of the PACE session on January 27, Lithuanian parliamentarian Emanuelis Zingeris challenged the credentials of the Russian delegation, arguing that Russia did not comply with the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.

Following him, a similar proposal was made by Latvian parliamentarian Maria Golubeva, who stated that the 2016 State Duma’s election was held in Crimea, which, according to her, is “occupied territory”. In this regard, she considered the participation of Crimean deputies in the work of the State Duma illegal.

Earlier, the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, the head of the Russian delegation to PACE, Petr Tolstoy Tolstoy
Petr Olegovich , said that at its meeting the PACE Monitoring Committee rejected most of the anti-Russian amendments to the draft resolution on ratification of the credentials of the delegation of the Russian Federation.

“We see that there is a majority in the Assembly that does not yield itself to provocation by the authors of the amendments, the delegates of Great Britain and Ukraine,” he said.

Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutskiy Slutsky
Leonid Eduardovich noted that “today the Russian delegation has already been integrated into the working fabric of PACE. The vast majority of delegates want to support us. In Strasbourg, it is becoming more and more interesting, and the work of the Russian delegation is more and more effective. It’s still not easy for us, but we will continue our work.”

The day before that Petr Tolstoy was elected as PACE Vice-President. Chairman of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin Volodin
Vyacheslav Victorovich The Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the eighth convocation. Elected in single mandate constituency № 163 (Saratov constituency - Saratov Oblast) emphasized that “the election of Petr Tolstoy to the post of Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will allow to develop the Assembly as a real inter-parliamentary platform for constructive dialogue.”