Head of the delegation and the deputy speaker of the Russian lower chamber Pyotr Tolstoy addresses the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), in Strasbourg, France. The PACE has officially invited the Russian delegation to participate in the June session. In April 2014, Russia was stripped of its voting rights in PACE in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis and aftermath of the Crimea referendum. Since 2016, the Russian delegation has not been renewing its credentials ahead of the assembly's sessions in protest of the discrimination it faces within the organization. The country has also frozen its contributions to the Council of Europe, pledging to withhold future payments until such time as the Russian delegation’s rights are restored.
- Package: France PACE
- Categories: Politics
- Location: Strasbourg, France
- Event date: 26.06.2019
- Date published: 26.06.2019
- Author: Dominique Boutin
- Credit: Sputnik
- Source: Sputnik
- Original: Digital
- Media: JPEG, 5712x3616px, 16Mb
- Job-ID: b7940f7687a8a439