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Russia threatens to suspend contacts with PACE

Xinhua, January 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russia could suspend all contacts with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in 2015 if the group extends its sanctions against the Russian delegation, a Russian lawmaker said on Friday.

If the group's sanctions against the Russian delegation continue in its winter session, "we will refrain from any forms of interaction with PACE until the end of 2015," said Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Russian Parliament's lower house, State Duma.

PACE is a statutory organ of the Council of Europe, an advisory international organization promoting cooperation among all countries of Europe. It is made up of 318 parliamentarians from the national parliaments of the Council of Europe's 47 members.

PACE stripped the 18 Russian parliamentarians of the voting rights in the group as a punishment for Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014.

Pushkov said Russia will not seek opportunity to make peace with those "trying to force Russia out of PACE" in the upcoming rally, adding that since Russia is a full-fledged member of PACE, it has "no reason not to attend the session".

Earlier Thursday, Sergei Naryshkin, speaker of the Russian State Duma, said Russia would raise the issue of its membership in PACE if the assembly would not fully reinstate the Russian delegation's rights this year.

Vygaudas Usackas, EU envoy to Russia, warned that the possibility of Russia quitting the group "could not be conducive to maintaining ties and dialogue." Endi