The senator Alexei Pushkov reacted to the statements of Secretary General of the European Council Thorbjørn Jagland on Russia’s membership in this organization, RIA News reports.
Previously, Jagland stated that Moscow’s withdrawal from the organization would become “the step backwards for Europe”.
“It is the largest loss for the European Council, not only financial. Much more than for Russia”, the Russian politician wrote in Twitter.
In its turn, the deputy Sergei Zhelezniak noted that Europe starts realizing the meaninglessness of policy of sanctions. According to him, the growth of understanding in Europe of lack of options of the dialogue with Russia was also proven by the results of consultations of representatives of the European Parliament with delegation of Russian parliamentarians, which were held on this weekend on Belgrade.
“In addition, the anti-Russian sanction regime affects the national economies of European countries and causes much discontent among the citizens of European countries”, he noted.
In late June, 2017, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov notified of his decision to suspend the payment of partial contribution to the budget of the European Council for 2017 before full reinstatement of powers of Russian delegation in PACE.
