It’s definitely! Russia will no longer be part of the Council of Europe: There is no place for the aggressor – New Time

The Russian Federation can no longer be a member of the Council of Europe (RE), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PZ RE) said on Tuesday. MEPs from across the continent have voted to expel Russia from the Council of Europe because of the invasion of Ukraine, another sign of the Kremlin’s alienation from the Western democratic order, the British daily The Guardian wrote. The vote has enormous symbolic value, although it is essentially a formality after Moscow announced on Tuesday that it was leaving the European Human Rights Organization. According to PZ RE, Russia has “committed serious violations of the statute of the Council of Europe, which is incompatible with the statute of a member state” and is not complying with its membership obligations. PZ RE is of the opinion that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe should ask the Russian Federation to “withdraw from the Council of Europe immediately”. If the country does not comply with this requirement, the Committee of Ministers will “set an immediate possible date” from which Russia will no longer be a member. This is stated in the text of the document, which was adopted unanimously by MEPs on Tuesday at the end of the extraordinary plenary session. In the PZ document, RE also expressed solidarity with Ukraine, its people and the Ukrainian members of the Parliamentary Assembly and reaffirmed Ukraine’s “unwavering support for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity” of Ukraine. MEPs from 46 other member states of the Council of Europe voted in favor of the resolution, which says: “There is no place for an aggressor in a common European home,” writes The Guardian. According to the daily, Russia’s withdrawal from the organization, which was established shortly after the Second World War in order to protect peace and human rights, is a highly symbolic moment. The Council of Europe, of which Russia became a member in 1996, drafted the European Convention on Human Rights and played a role in promoting democracy in Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, adds The Guardian. Russia’s withdrawal means that it will no longer be a party to the Convention on Human Rights and will not be subject to judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Russian citizens and human rights activists will be denied protection of the court, although Moscow has often ignored its rulings, the British daily writes. “Today’s decision is not aimed at the people of Russia, but against the autocratic, kleptocratic, tyrannical regime (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” said former Greek Prime Minister Jorgos Papandreu, currently a member of PZ RE, according to Reuters.