The Council of Europe is considering lifting sanctions against Russia, fearing that Moscow will leave the organization, thus limiting the possibility of protecting human rights in the world, the organization's secretary general, Thorbjorn Jagland, has said.

"The Council of Europe is considering lifting sanctions against Russia, which were imposed over Moscow's aggression in Ukraine," reads a statement posted on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's website on Monday, citing the organization's secretary general.

According to him, such a decision could be made because of fears that Russia could pull out due to restrictions, which, according to the Council of Europe, may deal a blow to human rights protection.

"Moscow is demanding its voting rights be restored in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which oversees the European Court of Human Rights and the 1949 Human Rights Convention. Russia was stripped of voting rights over the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea in 2014," reads the statement.

"Nobody wants to give a signal that we accept the annexation of Crimea. It is not about undermining this position of principle," Jagland said, adding that representatives of the Council of Europe "have to keep in perspective" the mandate of the organization that foresees the protection of "human rights in Russia and Crimea, or wherever people live on the continent."