Council of Europe suspends Russia over Ukraine invasion

The Council of Europe on Friday suspending all representatives of Russia from participation in the pan-European rights body over Russia’s attack against Ukraine. 

Permanent representatives of its 47 member states “agreed to suspend the Russian Federation from its rights of representation in the Council of Europe,” invoking Article 8 of its statute, a statement said. The decision takes effects immediately and affects the rights of representation of Russia in the Committee of Ministers and in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

However, the decision does not affect the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which is a branch of the Council of Europe.

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The Russian judge remains the member of the court and applications introduced against Russia will continue to be examined and decided by the court, it said. “Suspension is not a family measure, but a temporary one, leaving channels of communication open,” the Council of Europe emphasised in the statement.

Article 8 of the Council of Europe’s statute allows the suspensions of a member’s representation rights, and in a later step, even exculsion from the body. Russia, a Council of Europe member since 1996, has already in the past been the target of such sanctions, after its annexation of the Ukranian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea 2014. Then, the Russian delegation in the PACE was deprived of voting rights.

Russia responded by boycotting the sessions of the assembly and suspending the  payment of contribution to the council’s budget.

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The dispute was resolved and Russia’s rights restored in 2019 in a deal championed by French President Emmanuel Macron, the seeking to rekindle relations with Russia, but which infuriated Kyiv.

Council of Europe Secretary Geberal Marija Pejcinovic Buric described the attack on Ukraine as a “flagrant violation” of the statute of the Council of Europe and the ECHR which the body oversees. “This is a dark hour of Europe and everything it stands for,” she said.

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