How to stop the domino effect from happening?

President of the PACE Pedro Agramunt recently urged the Assembly to take the necessary decisions to enable the Russian delegation to return to the plenary hall. In particular, he urged the leaders of the political groups to consult within their groups on this issue. “A situation where one of our member states – Russia – is not present in the Assembly benefits no one: not this Assembly, not Russia, and not any of the 46 remaining member states,” Agramunt said in his opening speech of the PACE session.

In turn, Russia expressed willingness to return to the PACE only if the latter met its demands. These included, according to a tweet by former head of the State Duma’s Committee on International Affairs Alexei Pushkov, “equal participation and absence of any sanctions against our delegation.”

The Day turned to Ambassador of Ukraine to the Council of Europe Dmytro KULEBA for a comment on PACE President Agramunt’s statement which urged Russia’s return to this organization, Ukraine’s likely actions to counteract this, and the conditions under which Russia’s return to the organization should be possible.

“PACE President Pedro Agramunt has consistently and openly advocated the return of the Russian delegation to the Assembly and is making significant efforts to make it happen. The only argument that he uses to buttress his position is that we need a dialog involving all 47 delegations. This argument has two problems: 1. It is the only one. 2. The dialog becomes an end in itself, and the offender gets away with any violations of principles and norms of the Assembly for the sake of it.

“The parliamentary delegation of Ukraine should work with PACE political groups and with every last member of the Assembly, while Ukrainian diplomats in the capitals of the Council of Europe’s member countries should do the same at national parliaments. Because of Russia’s behavior in Syria, it is having a hard time in the PACE currently, but the cynical truth is that should Russia stop bombing Aleppo, the Assembly members’ mood is likely to change.

“It is hard to estimate the numerical strength of those opposing the return of the Russian delegation to the PACE, because no votes have been held. And judging from the fact that supporters of the return have so far refrained from putting the matter to the vote, they evidently feel that they do not have sufficient support in the Assembly yet.

“As for the conditions of Russia’s return to the PACE, it should comply with the PACE resolution adopted in response to its aggression against Ukraine. If Russia returns to the Assembly without complying with its resolution first, the authority of that international institution will be irreparably undermined. Each national delegation will then receive a clear message: whatever violations or crimes a nation commits, it will still be ultimately forgiven. It will create a domino effect and the position of the PACE will become totally worthless.”