MOSCOW, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Russia will not return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and will not pay its dues to the organization unless the latter restores its voting right, a senior Russian official said on Thursday.
"Moscow will not pay its dues and will not return to PACE until its regulations are amended and the Russian lawmakers' rights are restored completely," Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy speaker of the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, told Russian newspaper Izvestia.
In April 2014, PACE deprived the Russian delegation of its right to vote over what they called the annexation of Crimea. In response, Russia decided to leave PACE in late 2015.
The autonomous republic of Crimea became part of Russia in March 2014 following a local referendum, which, however, was rejected by Kiev and Western countries.
