Pace Has No Grounds To Oust Ukraine

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe "has no grounds whatsoever to expel Ukraine from its members". This viewpoint was voiced in an interview with RIA Novosti, Tuesday, by Assembly Russian vice-speaker Mikhail Prusak, also chairman of the Federation Council's international committee and governor of the Novgorod region. On Thursday, April 26, PACE members are going to discuss Ukraine's expulsion in the wake of media freedom developments in Ukraine. Prusak said that he was present at the discussion in Paris of the agenda of the Assembly session which opened in Strasbourg on Tuesday. "The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has no grounds or facts for expelling Ukraine", he noted. Mikhail Prusak recalled that a year ago Russia was also deprived of the right to vote at Parliamentary Assembly sessions and this situation has led to nothing. "In order to return the voting right to Russia, the Assembly forced itself to search for facts testifying to improvement of the situation in Russia", he said.

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