Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez Calls For Russia's Full-Scale Role In Work Of Council Of Europe

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for Russia's full-scale participation in the work of the Council of Europe

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2019) Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for Russia's full-scale participation in the work of the Council of Europe.

"It is important to find ways that would allow the full-scale participation of Russia in the work of the Council of Europe, which would allow all members to enjoy their rights and fulfill their obligations," Sanchez said, addressing the Council of Europe committee of ministers in Strasbourg.

According to Sanchez, all the institutions and mechanisms of the Council of Europe must be available on the territory of all member states.

Moreover, according to him, "people must have an opportunity to apply to the European Court of Human Rights if all judicial internal institutions have been exhausted."

Relations between Russia and the Council of Europe, particularly its parliamentary body, worsened after the Parliamentary Assembly ((PACE) deprived the Russian delegation of the right to vote in the wake of Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014, which was not recognized by Western states.

Russian officials have repeatedly stressed that the reunification took part via a referendum.

Since 2016, the Russian delegation in PACE has not been renewing its credentials ahead of the assembly's sessions in protest of the discrimination. Tensions escalated further when Moscow announced that it had canceled part of its annual payment to the Council of Europe for 2017, demanding that the Russian delegation's rights be restored.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on January 19 that lawyers had concluded that PACE documents, which strip Russia of its voting rights, were in breach of the statutory documents of the Council of Europe.