- Sputnik International
Russia
The latest news and stories from Russia. Stay tuned for updates and breaking news on defense, politics, economy and more.

PACE Bureau rejects cutting Russian delegates' role over Georgia

Subscribe
A motion calling for Russia's participation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to be reduced over the country's war with Georgia was rejected by the PACE Bureau on Monday, a Russian lawmaker said.
STRASBOURG, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - A motion calling for Russia's participation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to be reduced over the country's war with Georgia was rejected by the PACE Bureau on Monday, a Russian lawmaker said.

"The PACE Bureau did not support the proposal," said Konstantin Kosachev, who leads the Russian delegation at the Assembly.

The PACE president said, however, that the initiative would remain on the agenda of the Assembly's fall session, which started Monday. Luis Maria de Puig said it could be considered Thursday after the organization passes a resolution on the Russia-Georgia conflict.

The idea was put forward by 24 PACE members after Russia's counterattack last month to Georgia's offensive to retake breakaway South Ossetia. Moscow subsequently recognized it and a second rebel Georgian region, Abkhazia, as independent states and sent extra troops into the region.

The Bureau, which is composed of the Assembly's president, vice presidents and the heads of its political groups and committees, is a coordinating body with responsibilities including considering the admissibility of proposals, suggesting appointments and deciding whether to send rights monitoring missions to member states.

In earlier comments on the initiative, Kosachyov said that if a decision was made to suspend the powers of the Russian delegates, he would recommend to Moscow that it withdraw from the Council of Europe.

Luc van den Brande, who visited Moscow last week as PACE representative on Russian-Georgian relations, said it was unlikely the Assembly would freeze the Russian delegation's participation.

Russia earlier signaled it was not going to question the powers of the new Georgian PACE delegation.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала