The speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko
© Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS
MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/. The interaction of the Russian Federation and the Council of Europe (COE) after the accession of the country was interesting for both sides, but depriving Russia of voting rights in the organization indicates a need for change in the COE. This opinion was expressed in interview to the program “Vesti on Saturday” on TV channel “Russia 1” the Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko.
“Now [I’m] absolutely convinced that Russia’s accession to the Council of Europe was absolutely correct and the only possible, and at the same time, it was mutually interesting, intellectual collaboration,” said she. However, responding to a remark of the journalist that subsequently, Russia was deprived of the right to the head of the Council of Europe, the Federation Council speaker stressed that it is “a signal to the Council of Europe that we need change.”