OREANDA-NEWS  Russia's debt to the Council of Europe, after in 2016 she refused to participate in the PACE and stopped paying membership fees, is about €60 million this figure was cited in an interview with press Secretary of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Daniel Holtgen.

​His comment followed after this figure on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos called Finnish foreign Minister Timo Soini (his country currently holds the presidency of the Council of Europe). According to the Agency, Soini said that in May 2019 (the expiration of the presidency of Finland in the Council of Europe) Helsinki expects to find a compromise on Russia's return to work in the Council of Europe, including the payment of Moscow's debt in the amount of €60 million.

Russia refused to participate in the PACE (parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) in 2016 and then stopped paying membership fees. The decision followed after Russia's rights in PACE were limited, as the Council of Europe did not recognize the annexation of Crimea to Russia and supported the imposition of sanctions against Moscow. The speaker of the state Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said that Russia will wait for the change of PACE regulations, then to return to this organization

In the autumn of last year, PACE was unable to approve a resolution to change the rules of suspension of national delegations from work that would allow Russia to return.

The Finnish edition of Hufvudstadsbladet in November 2018 wrote that Russia's debt to the Council of Europe is estimated at tens of millions of euros, the budget of the organization will be seriously reduced if Russia finally refuses to pay. The deadline for maintaining Russia's membership in the organization is scheduled for June 2019. A little earlier, Secretary General Jagland threatened to exclude Russia from the Charter bodies of the organization for the fact that it does not pay contributions.