Russia to cease participation in Council of Europe, Foreign Ministry says

According to the diplomatic agency, EU and NATO countries, unfriendly to Russia, who abuse their absolute majority in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CMCE), continue to pursue "a course towards the destruction of the Council of Europe and the common humanitarian and legal space in Europe."

"Russia won’t take part in transforming the oldest European organization by NATO members and those obediently following them in the EU into yet another site for chanting about the West’s superiority and grandstanding. Let them enjoy interacting with each other, without Russia," the ministry noted.

The diplomatic agency stressed that the course of events "is becoming irreversible." "Russia does not intend to tolerate these subversive actions carried out by the collective West towards setting up ‘a rules-based order’ to replace international law trampled upon by the US and its satellites," the document said.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Following this, the US, the EU, the UK and a number of other countries announced the introduction of sanctions against Russian legal entities and private individuals.