PACE President insists on the return of Russia to the Assembly

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Pedro Agramunt insists that the Assembly should do whatever is necessary to return the representatives of Russia to the Plenary Hall, who left the PACE due to sanctions. He said this, opening the fall session of PACE, - reports Yevropeyskaya Pravda.

"The situation, when Russia is not in the Assembly, is beneficial neither for Russia nor for the Assembly or one of the other 46 countries," - he said.

He also complained about the resistance of certain forces that did not consider it possible to remove restrictions from the representatives of the Russian Federation.

"You know that I have taken steps to restore relations with Russia. I did it openly, notifying the group leaders. I have often seen that certain groups hinder dialogue, but we must go forward. Exclusion of any of our discussion does not help on the way to progress," - he said.

Agramunt said he would continue to work on the return of Russia and urged other politicians to support him: "We have agreed that the leaders of the political groups would discuss the situation. I would like us all to discuss this issue.".

Despite this, Agramunt noted that in the future it would be necessary to speak about violations by the Russian Federation. "The dialogue should not undermine our principles," - he said.