The history of relations between Russia and the Council of Europe began shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, with the historic visit of the then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Strasbourg in July of 1989. In a famous speech, he developed his concept of a “Common European House”, which had been outlined before he took office in 1985. The ovation that followed was memorable, but no one at the time imagined the geopolitical upheavals that would lead to the implosion of the USSR,...