In a telephone conversation on Friday 30 June, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign affairs minister, has notified the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE), Thorbjørn Jagland, that Russia was suspending the payment of its contribution to the institution's budget until the rights of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) are fully and unconditionally reinstated.
The 18 Duma parliamentarians saw their voting rights suspended in April...