OREANDA-NEWS. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is not obliged to deny credentials to the delegation of the Russian Federation due to the participation of Crimean residents in the parliamentary elections. This decision was made by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe (CoE), according to its official statement published on December 6 on the Council’s official website.

“Constitutional experts of the Venice Commission have concluded that while there exists a clear obligation under international law for all States and international organisations not to recognise an annexation, explicitly or implicitly, this does not necessarily oblige the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to deny credentials to the delegation of the annexing State,” the statement says.

The Venice Commission prepared the report at the request of the PACE Committee on the Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs in the context of challenging the authority of the Russian delegation on procedural grounds.

According to a source of TASS information agency, the initiators wanted to achieve recognition of the parliamentary elections in the Russian Federation as invalid on the grounds of the fact that residents of Crimea participated in them.

On November 6, the Russian delegation stated that it would require complicating the process of imposing sanctions in PACE. According to delegation’s representatives, this measure will remove the risks of various kinds of discrimination.