The Government of Germany "supports the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, in his efforts to find a solution to the challenges ahead". This is stated in the official response of the German Foreign Ministry received on Monday, November 27, to the DW's request about Berlin's position regarding Jagland's recent statements on the role of Russia in the Council of Europe.

"The Council of Europe is an important international actor advocating for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, which is called upon to support and strengthen the dialogue of the 47 participating countries on these and other topics," reads the document. The Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany called the Council of Europe "irreplaceable" as the "custodian" of the European Convention on Human Rights and "more than 200 other conventions whose observance is controlled by the European Court of Human Rights".

"Whether and with what rights the Russian delegation will again participate in the sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Russian delegation or the PACE, consisting of the deputies of the member states of the Council of Europe, should decide," noted in Berlin.

According to a publication in the British newspaper Financial Times, the Council of Europe "is considering the lifting of sanctions imposed because of Russian aggression in Ukraine," in view of fears that otherwise Moscow may withdraw from the organization. This would be a "serious blow to the protection of human rights," the newspaper notes..

After Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea in 2014, the Russian delegation to PACE was deprived of the right to vote. Since then, the Russian Federation has actually boycotted the Assembly's meetings and demands the restoration of its rights in full. Since June 2017, the Russian side has suspended the transfer of part of its membership dues to the Council of Europe. Russia, a member of the Council of Europe since 1996, is considered one of its main contributors.

According to the press service of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, if the Russian delegation is not registered before the PACE session scheduled for January 2018, it will again be excluded for the next year.

In October, PACE passed a resolution that could theoretically allow the restoration of the rights of the Russian delegation.

The document calls on the two bodies of the Council of Europe - the PACE and the Committee of Ministers - to better coordinate their actions. Since in 2014 restrictions on the rights of the Russian delegation concerned only the PACE, this could mean the cancellation of such a decision. As noted in the press service of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in any case, the decision should be taken by the PACE as a structure that restricted the rights of the Russian delegation.