The PACE has supported a resolution calling for the recognition of Vladimir Putin as an illegitimate president of the Russian Federation, strengthening sanctions against Russia and recognizing the Russian Orthodox Church as an instrument of Russian influence and propaganda.
This was reported by MP, Member of the Permanent Delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to PACE Yevheniya Kravchuk.
According to her, the resolution was supported by 87 votes.
"The members of the Assembly adopted the resolution "The death of Alexei Navalny and the need to resist the totalitarian regime of Vladimir Putin and his war against democracy". In this resolution, the PACE clearly stated that since coming to power, Putin has been building a regime whose goal is to wage a war against democracy and reshape the European and world order established after the collapse of the former Soviet Union," Kravchuk said.
According to the resolution, the Assembly called for:
- to officially recognize Putin's illegitimacy as president of the Russian Federation. The document states that the Russian dictator has been in power continuously since 2000, and the amendments to the Russian Constitution adopted in July 2020 and recognized as illegitimate by the Venice Commission and the Assembly allow him to remain in office until 2036.
- strengthen sanctions against Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, as well as against the regime of self-proclaimed President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus;
- recognize the Russian Orthodox Church as an instrument of Russian influence and propaganda that has nothing to do with freedom of religion and expression, and treat Patriarch Kirill and the Russian Orthodox hierarchy as a continuation of the neo-imperial ideology of the "Russian world".
In addition, PACE calls for the creation of an international compensation mechanism for victims of Russian aggression against Ukraine. The frozen Russian assets should be immediately transferred to it, and a special tribunal should be established to investigate the crime of war against Ukraine.
The Assembly also called on the United States, which is an observer state at the Council of Europe, to ensure that the Senate bill on aid to Ukraine is brought to a vote without further delay "or otherwise authorize the provision of necessary military and other assistance to Ukraine as soon as possible."
Earlier, we wrote about Johnson's proposals for Ukraine.