The (Non-) Participation of Russian Parliamentarians in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: Recent Developments

Recent Developments

Abstract

What measures were taken by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) as a result of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014? Unlike what was often erroneously indicated in the media and by Russian officials, the Assembly did not deprive the Russian PACE delegation of its credentials. Following the Assembly ’s decision(s) to deprive the Russian parliamentary delegation of certain rights within the Assembly, members of the delegation decided not to participate in the Assembly’s work in 2014 and 2015. As of January 2016, until 25 June 2019, the Russian Parliament did not submit the credentials of its delegation to PACE, and no ‘sanctions’ were–or could be–imposed upon its delegation by the Assembly. As a consequence of this self-imposed exclusion from the Assembly, the Russian PACE delegation was deprived, for a long period, of participating in the election of judges to the European Court of Human Rights and electing the Human Rights Commissioner and senior officials of the Council of Europe. This needs to be borne in mind in the context of Russia’s decision to withhold, for a number of years, its payments to the Organisation’s budget.