The head of the Federation Council Commission on Information Policy, Alexei Pushkov, in his Twitter, warned the Council of Europe that Russia can leave the organization. Thus, he responded to the anti-Russian attack of Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland on possible measures against the Russian Federation due to non-payment of contributions to the budget of the organization. According to him, the Council of Europe should pay increased attention to the question of how to return Russia. "It is not necessary to enlarge the resolution of PACE, but to think about how to return Russia. Otherwise, CE risks not only to lose Russian money, but also to Russia as such, "Pushkov wrote in his Twitter account. Earlier, Thorbjorn Jagland complained about the lack of Moscow's contributions to the treasury and said that without these financial injections of the oldest international organization, it was impossible to survive. According to him, it will last until 2020.

He also threatened that the Council of Europe could take action against Russia due to non-payment of contributions to the budget.

The Russian delegation to PACE was deprived of its basic powers in April 2014 because of the events in Ukraine and the reunification of the Crimea with the Russian Federation. In response, our parliamentarians said they refused to work on such terms, and in 2016-2017. They did not send an application for confirmation of their powers because of the Russophobic sentiments remaining in Strasbourg. At the end of June 2017, Moscow notified that it was suspending payment of its contribution to the Council of Europe because of the PACE sanctions against the Russian delegation.