Despite the PACE members’ decision (June 24) to get Russia back to the body, members of the Ukrainian delegation have continued to work energetically to prevent or complicate the Russian comeback. At the beginning of the morning session, there in dispute was the approval of credentials of new assembly members.
Thanks to the efforts of the Ukrainian delegates, the powers of the new Russian delegation to PACE have highly been challenged on substantive and procedural grounds. A fair number of parliamentarians supported the joint Georgian and Ukrainian position that Russia is constantly failing to fulfill its obligations and piles up those cloudy delegates who had illegally been elected on the territory of the Ukrainian Crimea, as well as those on the list of European sanctions. The said appeals were handed over to the relevant committees for consideration and further submission (on June 26) to the Assembly’s attention.
The President of the Assembly informed that until that final decision is made, members of the Russian delegation would have the same rights as other members of the Assembly, yet unable to vote for their powers.
In order to further counteract Russia's return to PACE, the Ukrainian delegates rendered good reasons why L.Slutskiy (a Russian Federation’s candidate) could not hold the position of vice-president of the Assembly. The PACE procedure provides that candidacies proposed by national delegations are declared elected without a vote. However, if there is a request for a vote from at least twenty representatives of the Assembly, they, the candidacies, are to be then elected by secret ballot.
Taking into account that no evidences of Ukrainians have brought influence upon the amalgamated group of those political turncoats who do reject any argument about the inadmissibility of Russia's return, just wanting it merely for ‘sticking financial plasters’, the head of the Ukrainian delegation put a special emphasis of parliamentarians upon the fact that all members of the organization should respect and adhere to the basic principles of the Assembly.
In view of the unprecedented decision to return the Russian criminals who are involved in the bloodshed in Ukraine and are sitting now in the Assembly, the Ukrainian delegates do not see the point in being in this hall, because such decisions overtly lead to dethronement of the assembly’s authority. In protest against the Russian presence in the hall, the Ukrainian deputies have suspended their work in the summer session - except for issues relating to the Russian delegation’s powers.
The Assembly should continue to address issues related to human rights, the rule of law and democracy at both national and regional levels.
The members of the Assembly held a joint debate on the topic: "The Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence: Implementation and Challenges" and "An ambitious Council of Europe agenda for gender equality".