Ukraine has warned that the Council of Europe will lose all legitimacy if it restores voting rights to Russia, in what would be the first case of penalties on Moscow being lifted since the annexation of Crimea.

The Strasbourg-based body, which upholds humans rights laws in Europe, is expected to vote to let Russia back into the fold on Monday, when members of the parliamentary assembly (PACE) will give a final decision.

The Telegraph understands that both France and Germany are in favour of Russia being handed back its voting rights, which were stripped after the 2014 annexation amid an international outcry.

But Kiev is increasingly concerned that restoring voting rights to Russia would amount to a whitewashing of its conduct and undermine the Council of Europe. "I cannot go into the details, but if this happens Ukraine will consider the Council of Europe as a discredited institution that has lost its authority to mentor member states, and to mentor Ukraine," Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's envoy to the Council of Europe, told the Telegraph.

"What we have here is not diplomacy, it is the surrender of the Council of Europe."

It comes after foreign ministers from the Council of Europe's 47 member states reached agreement to end the years-long dispute with Russia in May, with the vote at the Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg the last remaining hurdle. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, raised the issue with French president Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this month.