On Tuesday, Russia declared that officially decided and withdraws the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based human rights lookout.
Russia’s withdrawal from the body takes over the country’s discharge following its invasion of Ukraine. Later, Russia says it has begun the process to officially leave the Council of Europe.
The Foreign Ministry of Russia made the declaration following a historic wave of sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine. He later posted a statement on its Telegram channel announcing that it was “launching the procedure to exit the Council of Europe.” The Ministry said, “We part with such a Council of Europe without regret.”
Russian state-run Tass reported that the head of the delegation at the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Pyotr Tolstoy, handed a letter from Russia’s long-serving foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, to the Secretary-General Marija Pejcinovic Buric of the Council of Europe.
On February 25, the Council of Europe draped Russia’s membership following its invasion of Ukraine.
Prior to this week, Russia reacted to the Council of Europe suspending its membership by blaming the EU and NATO for undermining the Council of Europe. Russia said it would no longer participate in the body.
On Monday, Denys Shmygal Ukraine’s Prime Minister had requested the Council of Europe to remove Russia from the council. Shmygal has also argued those responsible for “this unprovoked and unjustified aggression cannot stay in the single European family where human life is the highest value.”
The head of the International Affairs Committee of Russia’s Duma, the lower house of its rubber stamp parliament, Leonid Slutsky, said on his Telegram channel, “But don’t be afraid, all rights will be guaranteed in our country, necessarily and unconditionally.”
Slutsky also reported and claimed that NATO and the EU of utilizing the Council of Europe as “a means of ideological support for their military-political and economic expansion to the east.”
The Kremlin said the suspension was unjust. Although, it gave Moscow an occasion by which it could revive capital punishment and a chance to withdraw from the Human Rights Commission.
Published By : Revathy G Sanal
Edited By : Subbuthai Padma
