Shared values dictated Russia's CoE exclusion - Di Maio

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 20 - Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Friday that "shared values" had dictated the decision to expel Russia from the Council of Europe as he wrapped up Italy's six-month duty presidency of the human-rights body.
    "The Italian presidency has been marked by the dramatic Russian attack on Ukraine," Di Maio told the concluding event of the presidency at the Palace of Venaria, near Turin, with the handover to Ireland. "An attack on our principles and values, heavy with repercussions.
    "So it was a complex exercise that called for the management of first the suspension and then the expulsion of the Russian Federation from the Council of Europe.
    "We were guided in this unprecedented crisis by the awareness of the challenge and by your support for the shared interest to move united in a decision". (ANSA).