MOSCOW, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is considering plans to invite parliamentary speakers of Russia and Ukraine to make a speech at the assembly's January session, a senior Russian lawmaker said Thursday.
"The PACE presidential committee was interested in the proposal to invite for a speech the speaker of the State Duma [lower chamber of Russian parliament]," said Alexei Pushkov, who chairs the State Duma foreign affairs committee.
"It is also possible that the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian parliament] speaker will also be invited. The PACE leadership was thinking about combining these two events," he said.
Pushkov, who heads the Russian delegation, added that the delegation was ready to attend the January session "in full strength" as the current limitations on Russian voting rights are in force until the end of the year.
In April, PACE suspended Russia's voting rights over its reunification with the former Ukrainian region of Crimea. During the vote on Russia's expulsion, its delegation walked out of the PACE spring session in protest.
Later, Moscow officially informed PACE about its decision to halt bilateral cooperation and skip the summer session.
