MOSCOW. June 26 (Interfax) - Former speakers of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Rene van der Linden and Jean-Claude Mignon have called for restoring the Russia-Assembly dialogue.
Relations between Russia and the Council of Europe are a guarantee of security and the account of interests of all countries, van der Linden told State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin in Moscow on Thursday before the opening of the 3rd International Parliament Forum.
The former speaker regretted the current mistrust and stressed that the Council of Europe was not itself without Russia.
It is necessary to find a way to restore the dialogue and fully resume operations of the Russian delegation to the Assembly, he emphasized.
In turn, Mignon said the Council of Europe should brace up and start working on the resumption of the dialogue.
Mignon stressed PACE must remember its keynote mission of parliament diplomacy. He said he did not vote for the Assembly resolution which stripped the Russian delegation of main powers at the April session.
In the opinion of the ex-speaker, PACE found itself in a deadlock without Russia. He agreed there was no Council of Europe without Russia because the sides shared global interests, among them the joint fight against terrorism. Mignon hoped the sides would find a common solution and resume their communication.
Naryshkin said the attendance of the 3rd International Parliament Forum by van der Linden and Mignon "significantly raised its status."