The Russian crisis in the Council of Europe: a false step of the Parliamentary Assembly?

Abstract

The annexation of Crimea to the Russian homeland has taken its toll on the Council of Europe. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stripped the Russian Federation in 2014 of its right to vote and other rights of representation. In this study, the political and legal consequences of the “Russian crisis” are analyzed in detail, with special attention to the usurpation of power by the Assembly of the sanctioning competences of the Committee of Ministers. This crisis reflects, on the one hand, the constant anti-Russian attitude of old Europe, regardless of the political weight of Russia and its particularity, and, on the other hand, the dangerous internal tensions in this Organization, on the occasion of the amendment of that gross mistake.