"The biggest losers are those who express joy at our leaving the most, who think it's a great victory," the chairman of the Duma Committee for International Affairs, the head of the Russian delegation to PACE, Pushkov said in an evening program on the Russia-1 TV channel.
"Ukraine has lost the most. Because it had hoped to exert pressure on Russia through PACE, to use the organization in its political interests," the parliamentarian stated.
"We left and Kiev started to understand that they…have lost PACE as an instrument. So Ukraine lost the most, but they do not understand it yet," TASS cited the head of the Duma committee.
Meanwhile, in the current situation Pushkov said that "the initiative is now in our hands." "We'll decide whether to return to PACE or not," he outlined the arguments of representatives of the Assembly. According to the politician, Russia "holds the keys to the solution of a number of crises in Europe."
In addition, "they are afraid that we will leave the Council of Europe," as in this case, the possibility of influencing Moscow will be zero," Pushkov believes.
