Russia should be back in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Armenian delegate from the Republican Party of Armenia said in his address during the PACE summer session.

“Our Assembly is at a turning point, especially after the publication of the report by an excellent investigation body, which has given us hope that the non-announcement of conflicts of interest, corruption, unethical behaviour and bribery will remain in the past. That was made possible thanks to the bold political will of this Assembly – this house of democracy. It also means that we are all full of determination to learn lessons from history and never to repeat the problematic decisions that we have made in the past. We have created a good background for the Assembly to revisit many of its decisions in order to create a fundamental forum for an inclusive political discussion on many sensitive issues.

One such problem involves Russia. It is totally unacceptable that the issue of Russia is sometimes used, or even misused, to create new dividing lines between the East and the West or the North and the South. All of us know that Russia is an important international player, with its own influence on both global and European politics, and it is good to see that the general global political climate is changing in terms of engaging Russia in dialogue. We should be clear that we need to re-establish a political culture of inclusiveness, in which we can discuss and define our positions on difficult issues in a climate of mutual respect and with a clear intention to consolidate and unify, rather than trying to out-vote one country and to patronise others. Armenia has a strategic partnership with Russia and is perhaps unique in this Chamber in that it has excellent relations with Russia and very good relations with Europe. The Armenian delegation, along with other colleagues, can play a humble role in making the Chamber a platform of inclusive political dialogue. Russia should be back in this Assembly.”