The parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) agreed Tuesday to allow Russian representatives to return to the body, five years after Moscow was stripped of its voting rights over the annexation of Crimea.
Russia threatened to quit PACE if it was barred from voting in Wednesday’s election of a new secretary-general to replace Norway’s Thorbjørn Jagland. Exiting the Council of Europe would have meant Russians losing access to the European Court of Human Rights.
The Council of Europe said in a statement Tuesday that the assembly affirmed its members’ rights “to vote, to speak and to be represented in the …read more
Source: European Voice
