UWC condemns ratification of Russian delegation credentials in PACE

The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) condemns the decision of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to ratify the credentials of the Russian delegation despite the Russian Federation not having complied with its commitments and obligations towards the Council of Europe, according to a statement on the UWC website.

“The Ukrainian World Congress denounces the engagement of the Russian Federation in PACE as contradictory to the democratic values it promotes. We urge all PACE delegations to remain committed to the resolutions of the Assembly and vigilant of the persistent violations of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the fundamental human rights of its people,” stated UWC President Paul Grod.

The UWC stated that PACE fulfills a vital role in promoting cooperation among parliamentarians in an effort to unite democracies around common values and interests.

“The ongoing blatant aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation together with its continuous violations of international law undermine these fundamental values and must preclude its participation in PACE,” reads the statement.

As Ukrinform reported, the voting rights of the Russian Federation in PACE were reinstated in June 2019 after having been expelled five years earlier for its aggression in Ukraine.

On January 27, during a plenary session of the PACE, the credentials of the Russian delegation were challenged twice - on both substantive and procedural grounds. The substantive challenge cited a recent proposal to change the constitutional balance between national and international law, as well as the situation in Georgia. The procedural challenge cited the fact that votes from the occupied territory of Crimea were used to elect the Russian parliament, and that some members of the proposed Russian delegation are currently subject to EU sanctions.