PACE has paid tribute to Alexei Navalny, declaring that the Russian state bears full responsibility for his death, and urged a series of sweeping measures to counter what it called Vladimir Putin’s “totalitarian regime”.
Unanimously adopting a resolution based on a report by Emanuelis Zingeris (Lithuania, EPP/CD), the Assembly said that under Vladimir Putin’s rule, Russia has become a de facto dictatorship which is conducting “a war on democracy”.
An omnipresent security apparatus, mass surveillance of society and brutal repression against peaceful protests has “turned the Russian Federation into what the Assembly considers a totalitarian state, whose modus operandi resembles that of a criminal organisation”.
Among other things, the Assembly:
- called on the EU and other states to sanction those directly responsible for Alexei Navalny’s persecution, ill-treatment and death as they appear on the “Navalny list”;
- urged all states to hold Russia accountable for its systemic use of torture under the UN’s Convention against Torture.
- reiterated its refusal to recognise Vladimir Putin as the legitimate President of Russia, and again urged the international community to cease all contact with him except for humanitarian purposes or the pursuit of peace;
- again demanded the prompt transfer of over 300 billion USD in frozen Russian assets to a fund to compensate the victims of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and the creation of a tribunal to try the political and military leadership of Russia for the crime of aggression;
- called on the EU and the G7 to strengthen sanctions against Russia, including by imposing secondary sanctions, sanctioning the Moscow Exchange and Rosatom, and lowering the oil price cap to reduce oil revenue as a source of income for Russia;
- encouraged member and observer states to pursue prisoner exchanges to obtain the release of political prisoners in Russia and Belarus, prioritising Vladimir Kara-Murza and others with serious health conditions.
The Assembly also said it was setting up a contact platform for dialogue with Russian democratic forces, and called for the creation of a General Rapporteur on this topic.
