The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe considers that although, according to international law, there is a clear obligation not only for all states, but also for international organizations not to directly or indirectly recognize the annexation, this does not necessarily oblige the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to refuse credentials of the delegation of the annexing state.

This is the main conclusion of the new report presented today by the Council of Experts on Constitutional Law - the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, the press service of the Council of Europe reports.

The report deals with elections in nationwide constituencies, rather than the elections of parliamentarians representing specific constituencies. The document was prepared at the request of the PACE Committee on the Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs at the end of June this year in the context of challenging the authority of the Russian delegation to PACE on a procedural basis. The credentials remain contested until the opening of the PACE 2020 session, when all member states, including Russia, will have to submit lists of their new delegations.