Russia to no longer participate in Council of Europe

MOSCOW - Russia will no longer participate in the Council of Europe, the country's foreign ministry said Thursday.

The ministry said in a statement that the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries "are using their absolute majority in the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers to continue the destruction of the Council of Europe and the common humanitarian and legal space" on the continent.

The ministry stressed that Russia will not tolerate actions by the West to impose its own "rules-based order" and trample on international law.

The country will not participate in efforts to turn the organization "into another platform for preaching about Western superiority and for grandstanding," it added.

"Let them enjoy each other's company without Russia," the statement read.

The Council of Europe is the continent's leading human rights organization with 47 member states. Twenty-seven members are from the EU. Russia joined the council in February 1996 as its 39th member.