Putin is an illegitimate president and Russia is a dictatorship: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution in favor of Ukraine
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has called on member states to recognize Vladimir Putin as illegitimate after the end of his presidential term in 2024 and declared Russia a dictatorship. This is stated in the PACE resolution, for which 43 MEPs voted unanimously on 13 October.
The Assembly also calls on the member states of the Council of Europe to stop all contact with Putin, except for humanitarian ones, to achieve peace.
According to the resolution: the unchecked presidential power of Vladimir Putin, who has ruled the country as president or prime minister since 2000, has led Russia to become a dictatorship. Amendments to Russia’s constitution in July 2020 extended Putin’s potential presidency until 2036, raising concerns about the lack of checks and balances.
The Assembly also pointed to Russian aggression against Ukraine and its aftermath as evidence that dictatorial regimes “constitute a threat to international peace and security and to the territorial integrity and political independence of their neighbors” as defined in Article 2 of the UN Charter. Accordingly, the parliamentarians believe that the restoration of democracy in Russia is not only in the interests of the Russian people but also of Europe and the whole world.
“The Russian Federation uses acts of aggression against sovereign states as a strategy to boost the president’s domestic image, as exemplified by the Chechen wars of the late 1990s, the Russian Federation’s influence in Moldova’s Transnistrian region, and its aggression against Georgia in 2008. Dictatorships also destroy fundamental rights and the social and economic well-being of their populations,” the PACE resolution said.
In addition, PACE reaffirmed its support for the creation of a special international criminal tribunal that would hold the Russian leadership, including Vladimir Putin, accountable for actions ranging from the illegal annexation of Crimea, the war in Donbas, and the premeditated attack on Malaysian flight MH-17.
We would like to add that in February 2022, the Council of Europe condemned Russia’s recognition of the independence of the self-proclaimed DNR and LNR, as well as the invasion of Ukraine itself. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe put on pause the representation of Russia’s interests in the organization, depriving it of the right to participate in the work of the committee itself, the Parliamentary Assembly, and other bodies of the Council. In response, Russia withdrew from the Council of Europe and terminated its international treaties in its respect.
