In Russia, there was talk of leaving the PACE

In Russia, there was talk of a possible withdrawal from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, expecting a harsh resolution in connection with the imprisonment and condition of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

How to пишет "Europeyskaya Pravda" with reference to "RIA Novosti", the head of the Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Leonid Slutsky, stated this.

"The next PACE session will open on April 19 in Strasbourg. And precisely in the format of urgent debates, that is, a particularly relevant file, with the adoption of a resolution, there will be Navalny's file. It is clear that this will be a tough anti-Russian resolution," said Slutsky.

He noted that this might push Russia to "perhaps leave the organization."

Earlier in February, the leaders of the Council of Europe published a joint statement in which they criticized the Russian authorities for sentencing Alexei Navalny to prison, but did not directly mention the need for his release.

As a reminder, on January 28, PACE adopted a resolution confirming the credentials of the Russian delegation, without imposing any restrictions against it.

The document proposes to recognize that in a number of issues Russia has retreated from its obligations to the Council of Europe and has recently further worsened the situation. However, the PACE decided not to impose any sanctions on the delegation of the Russian Federation, explaining it as a "desire for dialogue".

The resolution was adopted in the most favorable to Russia edition. At the meeting, the Assembly refused to support the amendment of Ukraine with a proposal not to ratify the powers of the delegation of the Russian Federation. Earlier, the PACE monitoring committee rejected all Ukrainian amendments to this decision.

The delegation of the Russian Federation threatened to refuse to work in PACE in the event of an attempt to punish them for human rights violations.