Dutch politician Tiny Kox, who in 2019 spearheaded efforts to lift sanctions from the Russian delegation the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, was elected as the assembly’s president on Jan. 24, by 164 votes to 80.
Maria Mezentzeva , the head of Ukraine’s delegation to the assembly, was in the running opposite Kox, and announced the vote’s outcome via the messaging service Telegram.
Kox succeeds outgoing president Rik Daems, and will serve in this post until the next session of the assembly.
On Jan. 24, Kox urged Russia to adhere to international law, and called for a de-escalation of its conflict with Ukraine.
On April 10, 2019, PACE passed a controversial resolution on Russia. The resolution, titled “Role and mission of the Parliamentary Assembly: main challenges for the future”, initially provided methods for easing sanction pressure on Russia. As the text of the document was hammered out, eventually a compromise was reached and the points most favorable to Russia were omitted from the final draft.
Russian representatives in PACE had their voting powers suspended in January 2015, in retaliation for invading Ukraine the year before. Ever since, Moscow’s envoys have been lobbying the assembly to have these punitive measures lifted.
While PACE sanctions against Russia are not economic in nature, they are notable since the assembly was the first international body with Russian representation that managed to sanction Moscow.
The headline of this article is totally wrong. What it should say is, Pro Russian PACE elects Russian puppet as president, instead of a Ukrainian.
“Tiny Kox”???
LMAO, great name for a Russian 😎
Yeah. It goes with the size of his brain.
But, who really cares about a useless club of nobodies in a continent filled with Ruskie rubbish? I certainly don’t.
I would go be a member just so I could watch the ruSSo-invaders throw a fit every day. They are kind of funny to watch when they’re forced to be nice and follow rules.