Five countries – Georgia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia today will release a joint statement to object to the restoration of the voting right to Russia and Russia’s return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

According to Tamar Khulordava, Chairperson of the Georgian Parliamentary European Integration Committee, the decision of Georgia’s partner countries is based on strong arguments.

“Georgia had a principal standpoint about the issue in the past as well. And since now the PACE is holding the first session after Russia’s return to the organization, we believe that our viewpoint and protest have to be voiced together with the delegations of other countries,” Khulordava said.

The delegations of Georgia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia did not attend the opening of the fall session of the PACE on September 30 in protest and solidarity to Ukraine.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted for the resolution to make it possible for Russia to return to the chamber on June 25, 2019, following debate during PACE’s opening summer session in Strasbourg. A total of 118 parliamentarians agreed to welcome Russia back into PACE, 62 members voted against and 10 – abstained.

The PACE deprived the Russian delegation of its voting rights in the body over the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in March 2014.