Ukraine ready to cooperate with new head of Council of Europe – Foreign Ministry

"We expect the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to take specific steps to ensure that Russia fulfills the requirements stipulated in the Council of Europe’s decisions on stopping Russian aggression against Ukraine, including the release of illegally captured Ukrainian sailors, Ukrainian political prisoners who are illegally detained in the occupied Crimea and in the Russian Federation, systematic persecution of the Crimean Tatar people and lifting of the ban on activities of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatars on the temporarily occupied peninsula," the press service of the Foreign Ministry reported on Thursday, June 27.

The Ukrainian diplomats noted that "they will closely monitor the actions of the new Secretary General, analyze them and decide whether they can create prerequisites for restoring confidence in the organization and then returning it a leading role in promoting standards of democracy, the rule of law and human rights on the continent."

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on June 26 elected Croatian Foreign Minister Marija Pejcinovic Buric as the new head of the Council. Buric - who received 159 votes in the first round of the election - will serve as secretary general for the next five years.

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