The Council of Europe, the continent's main human rights body, adopted a declaration Friday that restores Russia's voting rights following a spat related to its annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
Foreign ministers from the council's 47 member states voted overwhelmingly to support a declaration that says that all members should be "entitled to participate" in the council's two main organs "on an equal basis." That means Russia's voting rights have been restored.
The council, which is based in Strasbourg, France and is open to all European countries regardless of whether they are in the European Union or not, suspended Russia's voting rights after the annexation of Crimea, a move that Ukraine and most of the world views as illegal.
Russia, a member since 1996, then stopped paying its membership fees in protest. Senior Russian officials have threatened to pull out of the Council of Europe altogether.
Such a move would mean that ordinary Russians would lose access to the European Court of Human Rights, which has become an important tool for those who have lost faith in Russian courts.
Ministers are meeting in Finland, but Ukraine's foreign minister on Thursday unexpectedly canceled his attendance, a sign that Ukraine is expecting Russia's reinstatement.
Ukraine's envoy to the Council on Europe Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet that Ukraine and five other countries voted against the motion which he described as a result of "cynical diplomacy" to save a "long-term partner."
French President Emmanuel Macron told the Council of Europe president earlier this month that "the Council of Europe needs Russia like Russia and the Russians need the Council of Europe, which means that their rights as a member state are respected but also that Russia fulfills its obligations towards the institution."