Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian State...

Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian State Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs, said that the Russian delegation didn't intend to raise the question of introduction of the death penalty for terrorists at the current regular "We've discussed the issue at a meeting of delegations and concluded that such an initiative would be counterproductive in essence and holds out no promise in its form," Kosachev who is heading the Russian delegation at the PACE session, said prior to the start of urgent debates.
"Russia remains the only country out of 46 members of the Council of Europe that hasn't fixed the abolition of the death penalty in its legislation. We are not afraid of becoming isolated in these terms and we may resort to this measure if we decide that it's going to be productive in fighting terrorism. But there are no grounds to believe that this measure will help fighting terrorism and, therefore, there are no grounds to set Russia against the European Community", Kosachev went on to say.
The Russian DP said that more and more often Russia has to deal with the practice of using suicide bombers in terrorist acts, and capital punishment is unlikely to stop them. Though the idea of introducing the death penalty may seem emotionally attractive, hostages can hardly be liberated in this case. Besides, terrorist suspects cannot be extradited to countries that apply the death penalty under international conventions. "Therefore, we are going to lose ground for returning terrorists who are hiding in other countries to Russia if the death penalty is introduced," Kosachev explained.