Russia’s refusal to attend the PACE winter sesson was reaffirmed in the State Duma. Russia has not provided the list of delegated to the session and didn’t transfer the fee to the Council of Europe, according to RIA Novosti. Earlier, the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Commonwealth of Independent States and member of the Russian delegation to the PACE Leonid Slutsky confirmed that Russia was not going to participate in January session.

“At the present time, we are forwarding the letter addressed to the head of the PACE Anne Brasseur from the speakers of the Russian Parliament saying that the delegation’s credentials for 2016 will be requested later. We are going to miss the January session”, Slutsky said.

Slutsky also noted that Russia would return to the Assembly only if the country was guaranteed to work on previous conditions.

A year ago, the PACE has deprived Russia of voting rights, the right to participate in the work of the statutory bodies and in monitoring elections. Such measures were taken after the conflict in Ukraine and Crimea’s joining Russia.