Russia ran ahead of the eurocart – Kommersant newspaper No. 44 (7245) of 03/16/2022
The Russian authorities on Tuesday announced the start of the procedure for Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe. This happened at the moment when representatives of the Russian Federation enter the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Human rights activists, however, promise to load the case “five years ahead” in the time remaining before Russia withdraws from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
On March 15, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russia had initiated a withdrawal from the Council of Europe (CE). This decision of the Foreign Ministry called responsible for the “destruction of the united additional” On February 25, they, “abusing their remainder in the Council of Europe”, a ban on a discriminatory decision to suspend Russia’s representation in the statutory bodies of the council, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, and in such conditions our country will remain in SE will not.
The press service of the Council of Europe confirmed to Kommersant that the secretary general of the organization, Maria Peychinovich-Burich, received an official report on the results of the Russian Federation from the organization, and was also informed of Moscow’s intention to denounce the European Convention on Human Rights.
The need for Russia’s exclusion from the Council of Europe is being discussed at PACE on Tuesday. According to its members, the Russian Federation has committed gross violations of the CE statute, incompatibility with the status of a state member of the council, does not respect the right to itself and, thus, can no longer be a member of the organization. “I’m looking forward to when they take down the flag (of Russia.— “b”) from this building. We found that we built bridges, but it didn’t work,” British MP Howell said.
A record number of speakers in the history of PACE signed up to discuss this issue: 167 parliamentarians and representatives of five inter-factional groups announced the forthcoming statement. But there was no discussion: those who spoke vigorously condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine and opposed the predominant danger against unanimous support for Kiev. Much less often were words about the need for a door for democratically minded citizens of Russia.
Only the delegate from Armenia, Armen Gevorkyan, fell out of the general chorus, who noted that there were no such reactions when Azerbaijan, also a member of the Council of Europe, unleashed a war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
At the same time, the authors of the report prepared by the PACE Committee, in connection with the possible, incredible possibilities of Russia’s readmission to the CE, referring to the fact that the experience of Greece, which withdrew from the Council in 1969 and turned into it in 1974. In document:
“For the Russian Federation to return to the Council of Europe, along with others, changes are necessary. Violations of international rights and undermining of confidence, extremely serious, that if Russia wants to become a member of the Council of Europe, it must submit a new application and about its regular obligation to demand human rights and the rule of law.”
As long as the European parliamentarians return to “concrete initiatives” in the field of protecting human rights, democratic forces and independent media in Russia.
The formal conclusion of PACE is not obligatory for making a decision on the status of Russia on March 17th. But Russian politicians have already announced Moscow’s readiness to withdraw from the CE without waiting to be asked to do so. In the end, Russia’s withdrawal from the organization was sent to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe even before PACE unanimously supported the document proposed by the relevant committee.
According to the Charter of the Council of Europe, if submitted before October 2022, then Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe will cease from January 1, 2023. From that moment on, it will leave the jurisdiction of the ECtHR. The Vice-Speaker Duma and the head of the Russian delegation to PACE Petr Tolstoy in his Telegram channel said that due to the unprecedented spread and state sanctions pressure, Russia in 2022 is not calculated annually, which is an annual contribution to the CE, which is 33 million euros.
It is also easy for Russia to denounce the CE charter, the European Convention on Human Rights and four other charters, participation in which is provided only for members of the CE, Vice-Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev told reporters on Tuesday.
But, according to him, Moscow will take measures to remain in those CE conventions, participation in which is in the interests of the population.
Denunciation naturally means that Russia also leaves the jurisdiction of the ECtHR. The head of the international “this Agora” Pavel Chikov told Kommersant that in connection with Russian human rights activists they intend to intensify work: “Let’s allow at least 600 more complaints by the end of the year and bring the total number of expected investigations to 3 thousand. So, in order to fly five more own work.” In addition, if the competence of the ECtHR includes all cases of individual human rights admitted before January 1, 2023, then the complaints were identified in 2024 – after the exhaustion of national remedies, Mr. Chikov added.