DISINFO: The Council of Europe is turning into an instrument of the West
SUMMARY
During the regular meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission of the Russian Federation for the Affairs of the Council of Europe (CoE), the Russian side noted the continuing degradation of this oldest organisation, whose original goal was to strengthen the unity of European peoples.
The Council of Europe finally turned into an instrument of the West.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Council of Europe, undermining the role of this institution. The Council of Europe is an international organisation whose stated aim is to promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law across Europe and beyond.
PACE resolutions aim at resolving existing problems and cannot be considered steps against the country concerned. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is one of the Council of Europe’s institutions which safeguards human rights in Europe.
After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia's voting rights in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) were suspended.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Committee of Ministers decided, in the context of the procedure launched under Article 8 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, that the Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the Council of Europe, after 26 years of membership. Russia had the biggest number of cases pending in the Court. Millions of Russians are no longer protected by the European Convention on Human Rights.
International bodies are a frequent target of Kremlin propaganda. See other examples of disinformation narratives about the supposed anti-Russian bias of international institutions- such as the OPCW, which is serving the geopolitical interests of the West, the World Anti-Doping Agency, which made a political decision against Russia, or the United Nations, which always falsely accuse Russia-, about the alleged Russophobia of the EU, ICC, which is a tool of the Anglo-Saxons, OSCE, which a task to fully discredit the Russian elections, Russophobic PACE, which is a propagandistic assembly that deals with Russophobia at all levels, and about “absurd” accusations against Russia as an attempt to demonise it.