DISINFO: Russophobic PACE views Russia as a colonised country
SUMMARY
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has become a biassed, Russophobic body. Its resolution speaks about the need to decolonise Russia but Russia is a sovereign mighty state which is not colonised by anyone. The West has long dreamt of dismembering Russia and ruling over it.
RESPONSE
The claim is consistent with recurring Kremlin disinformation narratives suggesting the West’s belligerent and hostile agenda and anti-Russian bias of international organisations.
It also misinterprets the PACE resolution adopted on 17 April 2024 and distorts the history of Russia’s relations with the Council of Europe (CoE). Regarding the latter, legally speaking it wasn’t Russia’s decision to leave but 16 March 2022 decision of the CoE’s Committee of Ministers to expel Russia with immediate effect due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) comprises national parliamentarians from all member states of the Council of Europe. This international organisation, with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe, brings together 46 member states (47 until Russia’s expulsion in 2022).
The PACE resolution of 17 April 2024 did not state that Russia is a colonised country. Instead, it spoke of Russia as an imperial and colonial power. The resolution called on the Council of Europe member and observer States, the European Union and the United Nations "to draw attention to the numerous violations of human rights and the rights of peoples to the detriment of the colonised indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation".
Discrediting international institutions by calling them puppets and accusing them of having an anti-Russian bias is a frequent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative.
See other examples in our database, such as claims that international organisations like the UN are servile US tools, that the West employed hybrid warfare against Russia in the UN General Assembly, that the OSCE has turned into London’s proxy, and that European Court of Human Rights turns into a political tool against Russia.