-Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a decree to terminate Russia’s participation in a number of agreements within the Council of Europe framework, Russian New Agency TASS quoted a document published by the official Russian web portal of legislative information.

Russia will withdraw from the Council of Europe International Cooperation Group on Drugs and Addiction (the Pompidou Group), the 1990 Partial Agreement of the Council of Europe establishing the European Commission for Democracy through Law, the open Partial Agreement on cooperation for the prevention of, protection against, and organization of relief in major natural and technological disasters, the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport, the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes and the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe.

Moreover, Russia will no longer participate in the work of the Council of Europe’s cultural support fund (Eurimages) and the European Audiovisual Observatory.

Russia withdrew from the European Council in March, after 26 years as a member. The Russian Foreign Ministry attributed the decision to the abuse of the absolute majority of EU and NATO countries in the Committees of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which it said has continued the line of destroying the Council and the entire humanitarian and legal space in Europe.

Source: VOV5