22/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The powers of the Russian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe were disputed by British Conservative David Atkinson, at the opening of the plenary session in Strasbourg on Monday. This dispute does not, however, prevent the Russian parliamentarians from taking part in discussions and the vote in the Assembly that is to examine, on Thursday, the reports by British Labour's Lord Judd on the conflict in Chechnya and Polish Socialist Tadeusz Iwinski on the humanitarian situation in that republic. At the end of the debate, the Assembly should vote on the possible renewal of sanctions inflicted on the Russian delegation whose voting rights were suspended, on 6 April 2000, for human rights violations in Chechnya.