The Council of Europe, the continent's main human rights body, has adopted a declaration restoring 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 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.
Senior Russian officials have threatened to pull out of the Council of Europe altogether. Such a move would mean 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.
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."
France - which will take over the rotating presidency at the council on Friday - and Germany have been vocal about the need to bring Russia back in the fold for the benefit of millions of ordinary Russians.
Russia's exit from the Council of Europe would mean Russians wouldn't be able to turn to the European Court of Human Rights as the last point of appeal for criminal proceedings in Russia. The ECHR over the years has become an important tool of legal redress for Russians who are often unable to find justice in Russia's notoriously corrupt and government-dependent court system.
