The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) also urged EU member states to “cease all contact with Russia”, except for humanitarian cooperation and working towards peace.
"The overwhelming power of the President resulting from the extremely long term in office combined with the lack of any checks and balances such as a strong parliament, an independent judiciary, free media and a vibrant civil society has turned the Russian Federation into a de facto dictatorship,” the parliamentarians say.
This is important.
It will allow the West to hold on to Russian assets until they get a democratically elected government.
I think that not recognizing Putin as leader and calling to end diplomatic relations is probably a stronger statement than just saying that Russia is a dictatorship. There are lots of dictatorships out there. They don’t have a strong legislature, independent judiciary, free media, or…well, I suppose that “vibrant civil society” is a bit subjective. But point is, they continue as dictatorships and their leaders are still recognized and diplomatic relations are maintained by most.
Yes, and we continue to talk to those dictatorships anyway. That is the point of diplomacy. It’s the alternative to war. IMO it is a terrible idea to “cease all contact” with a foreign government, however awful it may be. But I assume diplomacy is excluded from their idea, despite the rhetoric.
Putin has made it clear that diplomacy is not an option with him. Same thing with North Korea, they pretend that they’re open to discussions to keep everyone placated for as long as they can and then they just do whatever they want anyway
Yup. This is an important point. Diplomacy as a stalling tactic is a very old playbook.
spelled 2004 wrong
Long overdue. I cringed so hard when the various countries congratulated Putler on his last “election win”.
