Russia might regain voting rights in Council of Europe

By Yusuf Hatip

HELSINKI (AA) - Russia may regain voting right in the Council of Europe (COE), the organization said Friday.

"All member states should be entitled to participate on an equal basis in the Committee of Ministers and in the Parliamentary Assembly, the two statutory organs of the Council of Europe," according to a declaration adopted by the COE Committee of Ministers in Helsinki.

"They would welcome that delegations of all member states be able to take part in the next June part session of the Parliamentary Assembly, considering the importance of the elections of the Secretary General [of COE] and of judges to the European Court of Human Rights," read the declaration.

According to COE sources, the statement is a declaration of intention and the last decision on Russia's rights will be taken by parliamentary assembly.

- Ukraine refused, France and Germany supported

Ukraine voiced its disapproval of the vote. "Ukraine and five other countries voted against this shameful declaration," Ukraine's representative of the COE Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

French President Emanuel Macron previously said: "The COE needs Russia. As a member, we must respect the rights of Russia and Russia must fulfill its obligations to the Council."

"It is not in our interest to exclude Russia of the Council of Europe," German Foreign Minister Helko Maas also said in an earlier meeting in Helsinki.

Russian was deprived of voting and some representation rights after it annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014

*Writing by Burak Bir