OREANDA-NEWS. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution by a majority vote, in which it was solved to ratify the powers of the Russian delegation.

107 of parliamentarians who were in session voted for this resolution, 36 vored against it, 24 decided to abstain. The meeting was broadcast on the PACE website.

"In this respect, the assembly solves to ratify the powers of the participants of the Russian delegation," - this can be read in the published text of the resolution.

On the first day of the session, January 25, Maria Mezentseva, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, offered to challenge the powers of the delegation of Russia in essence. After her proposal on the regulations of procedure, a special vote was held, as a result, the majority of those present supported the idea of the representative of Ukrainian delegation to challenge the Russia's delegation's credentials according to Article 8 of the organization's rules (then the proposal was supported by 38 parliamentarians from five different national delegations).

On January 28, PACE were discussing the issue of extending the powers of the Russian delegation, the relevant committee recommended their ratification. Prior to that, this step was resorted to in June 2019 and January 2020.

Prior to this decision, the head of the delegation, Vice-Speaker of the State Duma and the Assembly, Pyotr Tolstoy, stated that Russia could leave the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) if the powers of the Russia's delegation in this structure are limited.