On the same day that Russia challenged the jurisdiction of a second UN tribunal whose orders it is flouting, the Council of Europe’s Rules Committee adopted a draft resolution which could open the door to removing the sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea. The resolution has yet to be voted on by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and it is a ‘compromise’ which may still not satisfy Russia, however, the message sent by any such compromise is disastrous. If you are a big country and can blackmail with lost revenue to PACE, and potential withdrawal from the European Court of Human Rights, measures will be found to waive or at least weaken entirely warranted sanctions.
OP-ED
Halya Coynash: Council of Europe looks set to cave into Russian blackmail
General view of the Council of Europe parliamentary assembly in Strasbourg, eastern France, on Jan. 26, 2011.
