Russia Expelled From Human Rights Council, but Says It Was Leaving Anyway

The Council of Europe determined to expel Russia from membership, although Russia stated it might have left the human rights group anyway.

The council’s parliamentary meeting unanimously adopted an opinion Wednesday suggesting Russia needs to be kicked out of the council, then the Russian authorities introduced its withdrawal on the identical day, in accordance with a press release from the council. The Council of Europe was shaped in 1949 within the wake of World War II with the purpose of defending human rights. Russia had been a member since 1996.

The transfer is one other in a wave of measures and sanctions European governments have taken in opposition to Russia because it started its invasion of Ukraine three weeks in the past. Russia’s removing from the council is an extra condemnation of its conflict, which has prompted hundreds of deaths and accidents on each side.

Video circulating on social media reveals Russia’s flag being lowered on the Council of Europe’s constructing in Strasbourg, France.

In the opinion the council issued when asserting Russia’s expulsion, it stated Russia’s conduct in Ukraine “shows disregard for the very essence of the Council of Europe,” which its statute says is the concept “the pursuit of peace based upon justice and international cooperation is vital for the preservation of human society and civilization.”

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated in a Wednesday interview with Russian broadcaster RBK that Russia had already deliberate to go away as a result of the European Union and NATO nations within the group have been “abusing their majority in the council, eventually transforming it into a tool for anti-Russian policy,” the Associated Press reported.

Ukraine can also be a member of the council. In a tweet, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of overseas affairs, stated he welcomes the council’s determination.

“No place for Russia in European bodies as it wages a barbaric war of aggression against Ukraine and commits multiple war crimes,” he wrote.

In its opinion, the council stated it “deplores” that Russia has “persisted in its aggression, escalating the violence in Ukraine and making threats should other States interfere,” regardless of requires the assaults to cease.

When chatting with the United States’ Congress earlier Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky known as the battle the “worst war since World War II,” exhibiting a video of Russian bombs hitting residential buildings and victims being buried in mass grave websites.

The council’s opinion additionally criticized Russia’s censorship by itself folks and “harsh repression of peaceful protests.” The protester crackdown in Russia has been sturdy, with authorities arresting anti-war protesters who have been holding clean posters.

Overall, the council known as on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, adjust to worldwide humanitarian measures, launch all kidnapped native authorities officers, guarantee the protection of the nuclear services it took and extra.

“The Assembly is deeply concerned at the situation of Ukrainians who have been forced to flee their country for fear of their lives, in the biggest refugee exodus seen in Europe since the Second World War,” the council’s opinion added. “The Assembly applauds the generosity and solidarity shown by neighboring countries, who continue to take in hundreds of thousands of refugees, most of them women and children.”

Update 03/16/22 11:40 p.m. ET: This story was up to date so as to add extra background data.