SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
RESOLUTION
on ACTIVITIES OF THE DELEGATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AT
THE Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
27 September 2018 No XIII-1504
Vilnius
noting that in the course of its military aggression against Ukraine and the occupation and annexation of Crimea, the Russian Federation has gravely violated the territorial integrity of another member of the Council of Europe, the security of the European continent, numerous norms of international law, its international obligations, including the obligation to comply with the Statute of the Council of Europe and other obligations undertaken by the Russian Federation upon accession to this international organisation in 1996;
recalling that, on 10 April 2014, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (hereinafter: ‘PACE’), in response to the occupation and annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and in the manner prescribed by PACE, suspended the voting rights of the Russian delegation to PACE and the rights to be represented in the governing bodies of the Assembly and to participate in election observation missions;
expressing disappointment that the Russian Federation has failed to take the necessary steps to implement the resolution of PACE, responded to the PACE’s decision with threats to refrain from the financial obligations binding on the Member State and partially suspended its participation in the work of PACE;
taking into consideration the fact that upon accession to the Council of Europe the Russian Federation entered into commitments in respect of the Baltic States and has failed to honour them;
noting that the Russian Federation is seeking to modify the rules of the Council of Europe and thus to have the sanctions imposed on it lifted;
invites PACE to refrain from adopting the amendments to the rules and procedures tabled by the Russian Federation enabling the Member State which infringed the norms of the Organisation to recover its rights without having implemented the Assembly's decisions;
stresses that the decision to adopt the proposals by the Russian Federation would set a negative precedent for other states to evade their obligations and would undermine the credibility of the Council of Europe as the guardian of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, and might cause serious harm to the standing of this international organisation;
calls on the Council of Europe and PACE to consistently comply with their decisions with regard to the Russian Federation;
obliges the members of the Seimas Delegation to PACE and in other bodies of the Council of Europe to abide by this position.