PACE calls for Russia’s immediate withdrawal from organization

By Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) approved a resolution Tuesday demanding the immediate withdrawal of Russia from the human rights organization.

“Today PACE voted unanimously to call for Russia's exclusion from the Council of Europe after 25 years as a member. I'm sad we had to do it, but glad we dared to do it, for the first time ever,” PACE President Tiny Kox said on Twitter.

“The brutal aggression against our member state Ukraine is unacceptable, full stop. End the war now!” he added.

A total of 216 delegates voted in favor of the decision while three lawmakers abstained.

“The Parliamentary Assembly unanimously considered that the Russian Federation should no longer be a member state of the organization,” Council of Europe leaders said in a joint statement.

“As leaders of the Council of Europe, we expressed on several occasions our firm condemnation of the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine,” said the statement.

This “unjustified and unprovoked aggression” led to the decision of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly to initiate the procedure of expulsion of Russia from the organization, it said.

The Committee of Ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting early Wednesday amid Russia’s decision to withdraw from the Council of Europe, the statement added.

Facing growing international isolation over the war in Ukraine, Russia on Tuesday announced the launch of procedures to withdraw from the Council of Europe.

A formal notification signed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was handed to the council's Secretary General, Marija Pejcinovic Buris, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website on day 19 of Russia's war on Ukraine.

It said members of the European Union and NATO had abused their dominance in the organization, turning it into an anti-Russia tool and refraining from equal dialogue and all principles that were laid out in the Council of Europe's foundation.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said late Tuesday that PACE’s decision to demand Russia’s withdrawal from the human rights organization “needed to be done in 2014.”

“This is the Assembly that voted to return Russia not long ago. Now it’s time for #deputinization. The final decision is up to the Committee of Ministers,” Kuleba said on Twitter.

The Russia-Ukraine war, which began on Feb. 24, has drawn international condemnation, led to financial sanctions on Moscow and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia.

At least 691 civilians have been killed and 1,143 injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

More than 3 million refugees have fled to neighboring countries, according to the UN.