Members of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers have agreed that Russia will stay in the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), German tip diplomat Heiko Maas said on Friday, as cited by the German Foreign Ministry’s press service.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that "it is a good thing that we have agreed Russia should stay in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, particularly so that millions of Russians can seek protection in the European Court of Human Rights," he added.

Maas added that he had held a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the Committee of Ministers’ session. "We also discussed Ukraine, where we need Russia to make a constructive contribution, and Iran," the German foreign minister said. "We would like to preserve the nuclear deal with Iran," Maas emphasized.