Statement of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation regarding Russia's participation in the Parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe

The deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation declare that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) gravely violated the rights of the Russian Federation as a member of the Council of Europe, having deprived the delegation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the opportunity to vote at meetings and participate in the work of PACE governing bodies, to be rapporteurs, to take part in PACE election observation missions, to represent PACE both in the bodies of the Council of Europe and outside the organization.

As a result of a lengthy anti-Russian campaign, Russia's participation in the Council of Europe along the parliamentary line was actually suspended and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe itself, violating the basic principles of parliamentarism, found itself in a deep systemic crisis.

Such developments resulted, in particular, in a situation where more than half of the judges of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) were elected by PACE without Russian participation, bringing into question the legitimacy of the ECHR's decisions related to Russia. The same is true for the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights who was also elected without the participation of the Russian representatives.

Depriving the Russian delegation, which consists of the deputies elected by a nationwide vote, of voting rights is a restriction of Russian citizens' rights guaranteed by the Statute of the Council of Europe.