Delegates to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) from 20 countries have signed a declaration calling to stop attempts to return Russia to the organization before it first fulfills conditions of the assembly's resolutions, head of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE and Ukrainian Member of Parliament (Petro Poroshenko Bloc) Volodymyr Ariev has said.

"[First,] delegates from 19 PACE member states have signed a harsh declaration, titled "To Defend Council of Europe Values and Credibility," concerning attempts to return Russia's PACE membership rights without it first fulfilling PACE resolutions. The text expresses regret that some forces in the Council of Europe are attempting to ruin the reputation of the assembly in part and the Council of Europe entirely," Ariev said on his Facebook page on Friday.

According to Ariev, the signatories say the attempt to restore Russia's voting rights completely destroys PACE's reputation, "cause a domino effect in the organization and the signatories of the declaration want this stopped."

Among the signatories are representatives of Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine. The full list should be published shortly on PACE's website, Ariev said, adding that 20 signatures have been collected so far.