Russia wants to reduce contributions to Council of Europe
Russia is investigating the possibility of reducing its contributions to the Council of Europe (CE) since there is no way to influence the operation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Izvestiya reports with reference to a source in the State Duma.
The news outlet’s sources said that Russia plans to cut back on its contributions to the organization by $7-10 million. This amount is comparable to the amount which is allocated to the operation of the court.
“If Russia does not take part in the process of electing judges, why should we comply with the rulings of the ECHR? Many do not notice, but this was the primary consideration when the decision was made to freeze contributions to the PACE,” a high-ranking source in the State Duma told Izvestiya.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s committee on international affairs Vladimir Jabbarov told Izvestiya that the ECHR’s treatment of Russia is discriminatory and violates the sovereign state’s rights, and that its rulings are politically motivated. “If the biased attitude towards Russia continues, we will freeze payments and leave the ECHR,” he added.
Alexei Chepa, Deputy Head of the State Duma committee on international affairs confirmed to RIA Novosti that such a course of action is possible. He noted, however, that it is still too early to talk about when such a decision would be made.
The Council of Europe includes five organs – the PACE, the ECHR, the Committee of Ministers, consulting organs, and the secretariat. Their activity is financed by CE member states.
In June, Russia canceled the third payment to the CE budget which was supposed to fund the operation of the PACE. This contribution amounted to nearly €11 million. The Russian delegation has not taken part in the operation of the Parliamentary Assembly since 2014, when the PACE adopted a resolution which deprived the Russian delegation of its right to vote in the assembly and excluded it from all governing bodies due to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
In July 2015, the Constitutional Court ruled that Russia is not obligated to comply with rulings made by the ECHR if they contradict Russia’s constitution, but that the country will not evade compliance with the ECHR’s rulings.