Pro-Russian demonstrators carry a giant Russian flag as they rally in central Simferopol on February 27, 2014 (AFP Photo/VIKTOR DRACHEV) |
Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly agreed Tuesday to allow Russian representatives to return to the body, five years after it was stripped of its voting rights over the annexation of Crimea.
Despite
strong opposition from Ukraine, 118 parliamentarians from Council of Europe
member states agreed that Russia could present a delegation, paving the way for
it to participate in the election of a new secretary general for the
pan-European rights body on Wednesday.
Sixty-two
members of the Strasbourg-based body's parliamentary assembly voted against the
move and there were 10 abstentions following Monday's late-night debate.
Moscow
representatives were stripped of their voting rights after Russia's annexation
of Crimea in 2014.
Russia
responded by boycotting the assembly, and has since 2017 refused to pay its
33-million-euro ($37-million) share of the annual budget of the human rights
watchdog.
It had
threatened to quit the body altogether if it was not allowed to take part in
Wednesday's election, a move that would have prevented Russian citizens from
being able to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Amelie de
Montchalin, France's Secretary of State for European Affairs, said "it
would be dangerous... to deprive millions of citizens of access to bodies that
protect their rights".
Ukraine,
which has been supported by Baltic countries and the United Kingdom, had been
against Russia's return to the council.
It has
previously warned that reopening the door to Moscow would be the first crack in
international sanctions imposed on Moscow after it annexed Crimea.
Volodymyr
Ariev, head of the Ukranian delegation, said it sends "a very bad message:
do what you want, annexe another country's territory, kill people there, and
you will still leave with everything".
The Council
of Europe, which is seperate from the European Union, has no binding powers but
brings together around 300 lawmakers from 47 states to make recommendations on
rights and democracy.
Its
centrepiece is the European Court of Human Rights.
The
Council's Parliamentary Assembly will on Wednesday elect a new secretary
general to replace Norway's Thorbjorn Jagland.
Two
candidates are in the running: Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders
and Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejcinovic Buric.
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