Ukraine’s president discusses with Savchenko her work abroad

Ukraine’s President Pyotr Poroshenko has had a meeting with former Ukrainian servicewoman Nadezhda Savchenko, a member of the country’s parliament Verkhovna Rada and a PACE delegate from Ukraine, the presidential press service said on Saturday.

Russia Rejects PACE Report On Karabakh

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov added his voice on Monday to U.S. criticism of Council Europe lawmakers who approved last week a draft resolution that essentially endorses Azerbaijan’s position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Karabakh Rejects Council of Europe Report That Is ‘Lacking in Value,’ Says Presidential Spokesman

STEPANAKERT (News.am)—Davit Babayan, spokesman for the president of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, has said that a report authored by British parliament member for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Robert Walter, is lacking in any value and will “collect dust in [an] archive,” according to News.am.

OSCE should supervise probe of reports on mass graves near Donetsk (PACE)

STRASBOURG, October 3.  The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should supervise a probe of reports about mass graves found near the Ukrainian troubled city of Donetsk, President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Anne Brasseur said on Friday.
On Friday, a UN human rights report is expected to address the issue of mass burial sites near Donetsk. This will be observers' regular report on the human rights situation in Ukraine.

Peace and development in Europe is possible only together with Russia (EU official)

STRASBOUG, October 2.- Peace and development in Europe is possible only together with Russia, believes Dr. Stefan Schennach of Austria, the chairman of the commission for monitoring at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

He spoke to TASS in Strasbourg on Thursday.

One can close the door fast but it will be very very difficult to open its later and that is why the Council of Europe should use every opportunity which avails itself to boost political dialogue to keep the door open because Russia is a European country, Schehannackh said.

West Underestimated Jihadi Threat, Effect of US Mideast Policy: Greece PACE Delegate

STRASBOURG, October 2 , Daria Chernyshova - Greece delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said Thursday that the West and Europe had failed to understand the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East and the effects of US military intervention in the region.

Theodora Bakoyannis, rapporteur on the threats against humanity posed by the Islamic State (IS) group, said the West "completely ignored" the emergence of the Islamic State movement, as well as the impact of "western, particularly the US military interventions and policy mistakes" on the Middle Eastern crisis.

Cyprus Delegate Warns PACE About Rise of Neo-Nazism in Ukraine

STRASBOURG, October 1 , Daria Chernyshova - Cyprus delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has warned the organization of the rise of neo-Nazi activities in Ukraine.

“We note that anti-communism has been accompanied with a rise of neo-Nazi activities in the country and the participation of extreme-right wing forces in the government,” George Loukaides, Cyprus delegate to PACE said Wednesday at the debate on the crisis in Ukraine.

“We have an obligation to address more carefully the dangers arising from tolerating or supporting such forces in Ukraine,” Loukaides noted.

PACE to comment on Donetsk mass grave only after investigation ends

PACE will make an official statement on the the mass grave of civilians near Donetsk only after the official results of the investigation are made public, PACE President Anne Brasseur said Monday.

"As regards to Donetsk, I do not wish to make any statements about this at this moment," Brasseur said.

"We are waiting for the outcome of the investigation that is taking place, because with such shaking information, it is very important that one has good knowledge of all the facts before one makes any statement," Brasseur said .

Russia to press for probe into fact of burials near Donetsk at the PACE and OSCE

Russia will press for a probe into the fact of discovery of mass graves near Donetsk at international platforms such as the Council of Europe, PACE and OSCE, Aleksey Pushkov, head of the State Duma committee on international affairs, told ITAR-TASS.

"Russia must and will raise the matter in international organizations the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, pointing out that people who are directly responsible for these war crimes and crimes against humanity are now in power in Kiev," the parliamentarian said. Since Kiev, he said, "is incapable of carrying out any investigation whatsoever, this must be the subject of a very serious examination within the framework of those organizations".

Πρόσκληση να συμμετάσχει στις εργασίες της Προεδρικής Επιτροπής απέστειλε στην «τιμωρημένη» Ρωσία το ΚΣΣΕ

Έπειτα από τέσσερις μήνες απουσίας από την Κοινοβουλευτική Συνέλευση του Συμβουλίου της Ευρώπης (ΚΣΣΕ), κορυφαίος Ρώσος βουλευτής δήλωσε σήμερα ότι έλαβε πρόσκληση να παραστεί στη συνεδρίαση της Προεδρικής Επιτροπής που πρόκειται να πραγματοποιηθεί τον Σεπτέμβριο στο Παρίσι. «Πριν από δύο μέρες έλαβα πρόσκληση από την κυρία Μπρασέρ (Αν Μπρασέρ, πρόεδρος της ΚΣΣΕ) για να παραστώ στη συνεδρίαση της Προεδρικής Επιτροπής της ΚΣΣΕ που θα διεξαχθεί στο Παρίσι στις αρχές Σεπτεμβρίου» δήλωσε ο πρόεδρος της Κάτω Βουλής Σεργκέι Ναρίσκιν. «Πιθανότατα να απαντήσω θετικά στην πρόσκληση» είπε, ενώ ανέφερε ότι βρίσκεται υπό συζήτηση μια ενδεχόμενη συνάντησή του με την πρόεδρο της ΚΣΣΕ.

European parliamentary assembly invites banned Russia to presidential committee session (Sergei Naryshkin)

“I received an invitation from Ms. Brasseur (PACE president) to attend a session of the PACE Presidential Committee due in Paris,” said State Duma lower house of parliament Speaker Sergei Naryshkin...

MOSCOW, August 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Four months after its delegation was silenced at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Russia top parliamentarian said on Friday he had been invited to a meeting of the group's presidential committee in Paris in September.

Nataša Vučković says she and another DS official voted in favor of "the (PACE) resolution on Ukraine" because they thought it was "in the interest of Serbia."

Vučković is one of seven Serbian delegates - members of the country's outgoing parliament - to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Last week, they all abstained from voting on a proposed resolution on the situation in Ukraine, but the next day three of them, Vučković included, voted in favor of another document that suspended Russia's voting rights until the end of the year.

Vučković told a news conference in Belgrade on Monday that she fellow DS MP Vesna Marjanović "thought it was in the interest of Serbia."

"Anything that supports the preservation of territorial integrity is in the interest of Serbia," said she.

Greek Communists slam PACE’s decision to strip Russia of voting rights

The Greek Communist Party has slammed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s decision to strip Russia of the voting rights till the end of the year for its position on Crimea.

“PACE’s decision in retaliation for Russia’s position on Crimea is a monument to hypocrisy,” the Greek Communist Party’s Central Committee said in a news release. “The Council of Europe and the countries that hold key positions in it not only supported but also played the central roles in the imperialist invasion of Yugoslavia and also in other such interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.”

Serbian representatives in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) abstained from voting on a resolution on the situation in Ukraine.

STRASBOURG --The resolution which stated that "the so-called referendum" in Crimea was unconstitutional, was passed on Wednesday with 154 votes in favor, 26 against and 14 abstained.

The resolution also states that the Council of Europe does not recognize "the illegal Russian annexation of Crimea."

“The drive for secession and integration into the Russian Federation was instigated and incited by the Russian authorities, under the cover of a military intervention," stated the text.

PACE passes a draft resolution depriving the Russian delegation to vote until year’s end

Τhe move came definitely in a bid to punish Russia for its incorporation of Crimea, the deputy head of the Russian delegation to PACE says


The PACE Monitoring Committee has passed a draft resolution depriving the Russian delegation of its right to vote at the Assembly until year’s end for Russia’s incorporation of Crimea, Leonid Slutskiy, the deputy head of the Russian delegation to PACE and the head of the Russian State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, told journalists on Tuesday.

EU Lawmakers Pass Ukraine Resolution, Prompting Russian Ire

MOSCOW/STRASBOURG, January 30 (RIA Novosti) – An outspoken Russian lawmaker has labeled a resolution by Council of Europe lawmakers on unrest in Ukraine as an attempt to damage Russia.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a forum that brings together parliamentarians from 47 members states across the continent, passed a resolution Thursday during an emergency debate over Ukraine's political crisis and the government’s crackdown on opposition protests.
The resolution asserts that statements by Ukrainian officials indicated that the decision not to sign an association agreement with the EU in November was influenced by pressure applied by Russia.