This picture published on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website on August 30, 2019 shows Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) Thorbjorn Jagland.
Lavrov and Jagland discussed the prospects of bilateral interaction after the restoration of powers of Russia's delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE (PACE) and the payment of its PACE contributions.
MOSCOW, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) Thorbjorn Jagland discussed opportunities for cooperation over the telephone on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
It said in a statement that Lavrov and Jagland discussed the prospects of bilateral interaction after the restoration of powers of Russia's delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE (PACE) and the payment of its PACE contributions.
Lavrov and Jagland also discussed ways to strengthen the role of the CoE in the formation of a single humanitarian space "from Lisbon to Vladivostok," the statement said.
The Russian delegation to PACE was stripped of some of its basic rights in April 2014 over the incorporation of Crimea by Russia and its alleged involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
In response, the Russian delegation refused to take part in the work of PACE and froze the payment of contributions to the CoE in 2017.
On June 26 this year, the PACE session participants approved a resolution restoring the full powers of the Russian delegation. Several days later Russia paid its contribution to the council for 2019.
The CoE is a 47-member international organization aimed at upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.
Although the council cannot make binding laws, it has the power to enforce select international agreements on European states, like the European Convention on Human Rights through its European Court of Human Rights.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is an advocate of the idea of creating a single Eurasian economic space stretching from Lisbon in Portugal in the West to Vladivostok in Russia's Far East.
