Do not pay and do not pay

Russia suspended the payment of the contribution for 2017 to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) until all powers are returned to the Russian delegation in the assembly. This is stated in the statement posted on the website of the Foreign Ministry.

"Given what is happening, the Russian Federation decided to suspend the payment of its contribution to the European Council for 2017 until the completely restored powers of the delegation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in PACA in full," the diplomatic department said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explains such a decision by the fact that after the annexation of Crimea in PACA, "they limited the powers of the Russian parliamentary delegation that it made it impossible to participate in the work of the Assembly." The department believes that "since that time the situation in PACA is only degrading."

The statement states that Russia's non -participation in the elections of senior officials of the Council of Europe and judges of the European Court of Human Rights "will call into question their legitimacy."

At the same time, the Foreign Ministry assured that Russia "continues to work fully in the European Council, including the fulfillment of obligations on conventions in which it takes part."

On June 6, the State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that Russia blocked the transfer of its annual contribution in PACE - about 11 million euros. Then the representative of the Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the diplomatic department is working on the issue of reducing the contribution in the PACE.

On January 18 last year, the then Speaker of the State Duma, Sergei Naryshkin, announced the refusal of the Russian delegation to participate in the PACE Winter session. At the same time, he noted that in February Russia will pay the due third of its annual contribution to the European Council, but in the future it may stop transfer.

The reason for the refusal of Russia was the deprivation of its delegation of part of the authority . The conflict began in April 2014 - then the Assembly before the end of the year deprived Russia of the right to vote , as well as the right to participate in the meetings of its authorized bodies and in monitoring activities. This decision was made due to the occupation and annexation of Crimea.