Russia formally departs Council of Europe

Russia introduced Tuesday that it formally left the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based human rights watchdog.

Russia’s departure from the physique probably preempts the nation’s expulsion following its invasion of Ukraine.

The head of the delegation on the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Pyotr Tolstoy, handed a letter from Russia’s long-serving international minister, Sergey Lavrov, to the Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric of the Council of Europe, Russian state-run Tass reported.

The Russian Foreign Ministry additionally posted an announcement on its Telegram channel asserting that it was “launching the procedure to exit the Council of Europe.”

“We part with such a Council of Europe without regret,” the ministry mentioned.

What is the Council of Europe?

The Council of Europe was based in 1949 and its mission is to uphold human rights and the rule of legislation as a part of the postwar order. It is its personal separate establishment distinct from the EU.

The Council of Europe is answerable for drawing up the European Convention on Human Rights which established the European Court of Human Rights.

In 1996, the Russian Federation joined the Council of Europe following the break-up of the Soviet Union just a few years prior.

On February 25, the Council of Europe suspended Russia’s membership following its invasion of Ukraine.

What have Russia and Ukraine mentioned about Russia’s departure?

Last week Russia responded to the Council of Europe suspending its membership by blaming the EU and NATO for undermining the Council of Europe. Russia mentioned it could not take part within the physique.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmygal had urged the Council of Europe to expel Russia on Monday. Shmygal argued these answerable for “this unprovoked and unjustified aggression cannot stay in the single European family where human life is the highest value.”

Leonid Slutsky, the top of the International Affairs Committee of Russia’s Duma, the decrease home of its rubber stamp parliament, mentioned on his Telegram channel, “But don’t be afraid, all rights will be guaranteed in our country, necessarily and unconditionally.”

Slutsky additionally accused NATO and the EU of utilising the Council of Europe as “a means of ideological support for their military-political and economic expansion to the east.”

The Kremlin argued the suspension was unjust. However, it gave Moscow an event by which it may revive capital punishment and an opportunity to withdraw from the Human Rights Commission.

Russia denies it has invaded Ukraine, as an alternative referring to Putin’s struggle as a “special military operation.”