PACE called on European countries to recognize Putin as illegitimate

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) issued a statement calling on European countries to consider the rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin illegitimate if he remains in power after the 2024 elections. In this case, Europe should stop all contacts with Russia, with the exception of humanitarian ones, as indicated in the statement.

The PACE emphasized that Putin has been holding power in Russia as president or prime minister since 2000. Amendments to the Russian Constitution adopted in 2020 now allow him to hold the highest post until 2036. Combined with the repression against opponents within Russia and the attack on Ukraine, this leads the Assembly to the conclusion that in the country’s political system, presidential power has ceased to be controlled.

“The unlimited power of the president for such a long time, in the absence of checks and balances, such as a strong parliament, an independent court, a free press and a lively civil society, turned Russia into a de facto dictatorship,” the document says.

In a unanimously adopted resolution, the PACE decrees that the continuation of Putin’s presidency after 2024 will be considered a violation of both the Russian Constitution and international legal principles.

In addition, PACE once again came out in support of the creation of an international criminal tribunal, which will examine the role of the Russian authorities and Putin personally in the annexation of Crimea, the war in Donbass and the crash of the Malaysian “Boeing” MH17 in 2014.

• PACE includes representatives of 46 European states, including non-EU countries. Russia left PACE in 2022, after the start of a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.