EKO HOT BLOG reports that Russia on Wednesday ceased to be a member of the Council of Europe after over a quarter of a century of membership in the pan-European rights body.
Moscow announced Tuesday that it was quitting the council, ahead of the formal decision taken Wednesday by the body’s committee of ministers to expel the Russian Federation over its invasion of Ukraine.
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In a hugely symbolic moment, the country’s flag was lowered and removed from its staff outside the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg, eastern France, at around 1430 GMT.
The flags of the 46 remaining member states were kept flying.
The committee of ministers, the body’s main decision-making organ, decided “the Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the Council of Europe as from today, after 26 years of membership”.
Russia joined the Council of Europe on February 28, 1996.
On Tuesday, the council’s Parliamentary Assembly had agreed that Moscow could no longer be a member of the body, hours after Russia announced it would pull out.
The Russian foreign ministry said it had “no regret” about leaving and claimed that EU and NATO member states had turned the organisation into an “instrument for anti-Russian policies”.
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