On October 13, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution according to which the ruling regime in Russia is recognized as a terrorist one, and the country's presence in the UN Security Council is illegal. Gleb Bogush, an expert on international criminal law, told The Insider that this does not entail any political consequences for Russia, since a “terrorist state” and a “terrorist regime (government)” are different things in international law.
“The resolution on such general political rather than procedural issues is advisory in nature. This does not entail any direct political consequences. Strictly speaking, this is the opinion of parliamentarians from the countries of the Council of Europe who participate in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly. This is important, but it is not a legally binding document, so it is easy to vote for it, because there are no direct consequences.
PACE resolutions often contain harsh language, but those decisions that may be binding on the organization are still taken by the states, and in this case the Committee of Ministers, the main body of the Council of Europe, which already makes binding decisions within the organization. I wouldn't pay attention to that. The topic of "terrorist state" or "state sponsor of terrorism" is not exactly pure stuff, but it diverts from the real topics.
The recognition of Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism” is a hot topic that everyone rushes at. It's not that it's empty, but I don't understand why everyone is discussing this. The Council of Europe can't do anything, no matter what it calls it. It is necessary to say when there are already specific measures and specific sanctions, as well as the consequences of the status. These terms about terrorism have no legal content. This resolution simply has harsher language than all the others. It also refers to the creation of a tribunal, which was already in previous resolutions. In this case, this is important, because the option of organizing a special tribunal in the future with the participation of the Council of Europe is one of the likely scenarios. This is rather a political gesture that has no direct consequences, but it also expresses a position in the form of a recommendation for 46 countries of the Council of Europe on Russia's membership in the UN and the Security Council.
All these bodies have little ability to somehow influence the situation. Of course, there was a parliament, a meeting, a large hall, but in reality the function of the Assembly in these matters is purely advisory or recommendatory. It's not even the European Parliament in the EU. In addition, the Parliamentary Assembly is formed not through elections, but through quotas, and consists, in fact, of the parliamentary functionaries of the participating countries. The Council of Europe has not recognized anything, but there is a certain ringing that is "not quite about that." The text of the resolution has not yet been published. It’s amazing that a lot of people are discussing a document that doesn’t exist yet and that no one has seen.”
On August 11, the Saeima of Latvia declared Russia a sponsor of terrorism due to violence against civilians and attacks on the civilian population of Ukraine. In May, the Czech Senate (the upper house of parliament) recognized the crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine as genocide against the Ukrainian people. On May 10, the Lithuanian Seimas also recognized Russia as a terrorist state: the unanimously adopted resolution states that the Russian troops committed mass war crimes on the territory of Ukraine, most of them killed in Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, Borodianka and Gostomel.
