Russia

[President Trump] has said on a number of occasions that he was prevented from working more closely with Putin in the first two years because of the Russia investigation...This is the first meeting with Putin since the Mueller report. And so if his own remarks are anything to go by, we may sort of expect to see him trying to open up a sort of deeper period of cooperation with Putin.

Since 2014, Russia has only stepped up its repressive behavior at home and aggressive actions abroad. The decision to allow Russia back into the Council [of Europe] sends the message that this behavior is acceptable. It’s a dangerous precedent for others.

The decision [by the the Council of Europe to reinstate Russia's voting rights] sends the message that it's back to business as usual with Russia, even though Moscow hasn't done anything to change its aggressive behavior...The idea is that it's better to have Russia in the Council because it gives some leverage. But this is a false assumption given that Russia invaded Ukraine and committed numerous human rights offenses before that, while it was a member.