Russia's debts to the Council of Europe amount to about 60 million euro, the Council of Europe Secretary General's spokesman Daniel Holtgen said.
Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland said on Tuesday that the decision to deprive Russia of the right to vote had not led to the return of Crimea, but created a crisis within the Organisation instead.
In April 2014, the Russian delegation to PACE was stripped of key rights, including the right to vote and take part in the assembly’s governing bodies, following the developments in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. The issue of restoring the rights of the Russian delegation was raised at PACE twice throughout 2015, but the sanctions are still in place: Russia is deprived of the right to vote and cannot take part in the Assembly’s governing bodies and elections monitoring missions.
In response, Russia suspended its participation in the PACE activities till the end of 2015. In 2016-2017, Russia skipped PACE meetings due to the ongoing sanctions.
