Russia was readmitted to the Council of Europe five years after the annexation of Crimea by 118 votes in favor and 62 against, with 10 abstentions. The assembly backed Russia’s return by advocating that ordinary Russians could lose the right to appeal to the ECHR for protection from abuses in Russia’s police and legal system. The court orders Russia to pay millions of euros in compensation each year.

“When the next time Putin will kill, blood will be also on your hands,” said the Ukrainian delegate Oleksiy Honcharenko while addressing to the assembly.

Ukraine, Georgia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, and Poland emphasized that allowing Russia to return to the body would be seen as a concession and show weakness in Europe’s resolve to contain Russia. The delegates published a statement saying that the CoE is under threat as a whole because the CoE is losing the trust of the people it stands to protect.

“Today as the delegates of our nations have no answer to our people how exactly the CoE is protecting their rights if it comes across as more interested in protecting the well-being of an aggressor than the victims of aggression and repression,” reads the statement.

Source: Giorgi Kandelaki

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