PACE recommends excluding Russia from Council of Europe
PACE voted for Russia's withdrawal from the Council of Europe.
"Number of votes for: 216 of 219. This is the Assembly that voted to return Russia not long ago. Now it is time for deputinization. The final decision is up to the Committee of Ministers," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Kuleba also said Russia should have been excluded in 2014.
In turn, the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Assembly, MP of the Servant of the People Maria Mezentseva said that 46 European countries voted for the exclusion of Russia from the Council of Europe.
"Russia, trying to save face, today submitted a letter to the Council of Europe on its voluntary withdrawal from the organization. But what we are striving for is the exclusion of Russia, and we have done everything for this. There has never been such unity in PACE, some 216 out of 219 votes. PACE corrects its mistakes," the Servant of the People press service said, citing Mezentseva.
The final point in this story will be put by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on Thursday, March 17, Mezentseva said.