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Speaker of Russian Duma defends voting rights for Russian delegates to COE

Xinhua, January 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

"No one has the right to suspend an individual's right to vote," speaker of the Russian Duma Sergey Naryshkin declared on Sunday in a joint press conference with the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Anne Brasseur.

Mr. Naryshkin was defending the rights of Russian deputies to the PACE to vote during the winter opening session of 2015, which will be held from Monday, Jan. 26, to Friday, Jan. 30. His defense comes amidst wide speculation that a motion to challenge the Russian delegation's credentials will be tabled early this week.

President Brasseur replied that the PACE has a strict procedure to observe when member states were viewed as having violated legal and human rights commitments, with the Russian taking control of Crimea in March 2014 viewed by the assembly as a "clear act of aggression" in violation with international law.

In response to Russia's actions in Crimea, the PACE passed a resolution during its April 2014 session to suspend voting rights of the Russian delegation until Jan. 26, 2015, at the start of the new parliamentary year. The resolution was passed with 145 votes in favor, 21 against, and 22 abstentions.

Clarifying his position, Mr. Naryshkin replied that when Russian forces took control of the Crimean peninsula, they had been respecting the result of a referendum, held on March 16, 2014, in which Crimean citizens voted to join the Russian Federation.

In its resolution, the parliamentary assembly had already declared its position that the widely criticized Crimean referendum was illegal and insufficient grounds for Russia's military intervention.

The joint press conference was held after a third meeting between the PACE Presidential Committee and the Russian Duma Speaker, in a series of meetings organized to maintain open dialogue between the assembly and Russian authorities.

The Russian delegation will regain all of its rights as a member state on Jan. 26, up until the time of a vote on sanctions against them, should a motion be tabled. If such a new resolution is passed, Mr. Naryshkin said, "Unfortunately we would need to stop our work for a year."

According to the published procedures of the PACE, the credentials of a member state can be challenged in a motion tabled by at least 50 delegates, representing at least two major political groups, and at least five different member states.

While expressing hope for a resolution to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, President Brasseur declared, "there are many points on which we are in disagreement," referring to Mr. Naryshkin. Enditem