Council of Europe raises concern about ethnic Russians in Ukraine

The Council of Europe's advisory committee on Monday raised concern about the deepening mistrust between ethnic Russians and the majority population in Ukraine due to Moscow's ongoing war, according to a statement from the Strasbourg-based international body.

The Council's Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities deplored that the Russian authorities used "issues of minority rights as a pretext for the invasion."

It noted that the most devastated regions in eastern and southern Ukraine are home to several Russian or Russian-speaking minorities and the conflict has exacerbated the situation for interethnic relations in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, while making the announcement of the war in February, cited Ukraine as a "territory that was historically ours." He called Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014 as Crimeans choosing to be with their historical homeland, with Russia.

The committee underlined that by launching the war in Ukraine, Russia has violated the principles of the Council of Europe's committee on the protection of national minorities, good neighborliness, and friendly relations between states.

Moscow is a contracting party to the committee and is bound by its obligations and subject to its monitoring procedure even though it was excluded from the Council of Europe in March for seriously violating human rights, rule of law, and fundamental freedoms by launching the war.

The Council of Europe is an international organization of 46 member states to promote democracy and protect human rights and the rule of law in Europe.