Leaders of the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities have met Russian democratic figures living in exile to discuss how to structure future contacts.
Congress President Gunn Marit Helgesen held talks on 31 March on the margins of the body’s spring plenary session, alongside Konstantinos Koukas, President of the Chamber of Local Authorities, and Cecilia Dalman Eek, President of the Chamber of Regions, the Council of Europe press service reported.
Those attending included Ilya Yashin, a former head of Moscow’s Krasnoselsky District; Ksenia Fadeeva, a former municipal councillor in Tomsk; and Natalia Arno, president of the Free Russia Foundation.
The meeting followed dialogue launched in 2025 and included discussion of possible next steps to set out a framework for relations between the Congress and Russian democratic forces.
Proposals to be discussed in Monaco
Proposals will be discussed at a meeting of the Congress bureau in Monaco in June 2026, the Council of Europe said.
In August 2024, then Congress President Marc Cools welcomed the freeing of Fadeeva and Yashin, who were released as part of a prisoner exchange.
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is an assembly of elected local and regional representatives from across Europe, including mayors and councillors, and describes itself as the voice of Europe’s municipalities and regions.
