Malaysian Airlines MH317

[ikalugin]

@skybird

Apart from the money considerations (we do not plan to be a part of organisation and pay for membership if we have no voice in it), it is also about retaining instruments of influence over Russia, such as the courts. If Russia leaves the council of Europe it would leave the jurisdiction of say relevant human rights courts such as the ECHR, which were used a number of times to pressure the Russian state.

As to Ukraine and Baltics - they have been using the council of Europe to push their own agenda. If we for example take Minsk accords, Ukraine managed to not only sabotage their execution, but push documents through council of Europe blaming Russia for that. The length of this crisis precludes post-crisis analasys in the west, like they managed to do post 080808 war and the Ukrainian narrative dominates. As such it makes good sense for the old europe to protect their interests.