2014 

Statement of the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the Developments in Ukraine

SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Statement

on the developments in Ukraine

19 February 2014

Vilnius

The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania,

Appalled by the news coming again from Ukraine on renewed bloody clashes between protesters and militia officers and the increasing number of the dead and injured;

Emphasising the personal responsibility of Viktor Yanukovych, President of Ukraine, and the responsibility of the country’s leadership for the current situation in the country;

Strongly condemning the brutal use of force and calling for immediate cessation of hostilities by power structures against protesters;

Deploring human casualties and expressing sincere condolences to their families and friends;

Emphasising that the resolve of Ukrainian people to associate their country’s future with the European Union reinforces Europe’s joint responsibility for the success of Ukraine’s integration into the European Union;

Having regard to the fact that Lithuania currently holds the presidency of the United Nations Security Council,

Invites the political leaders of Ukraine to seek peaceful political dialogue through all the possible means and continue negotiations on resolving the situation;

Considers that holding early presidential and parliamentary elections would be one of the most appropriate solutions to the political crisis;

Calls on the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania and proposes initiating inclusion of the situation in Ukraine into the agenda of the UN Security Council;

Calls on Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Ministers of Foreign Affairs of EU Member States to urgently convene an extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union to consider imposing sanctions against the individuals responsible for the violence;

Invites the competent European Union bodies and Member States to provide the necessary humanitarian aid to Ukraine;

Urges the heads of European Union bodies, political leaders of Member States and representatives of the European Parliament and national Parliaments to unite their efforts in response to the developments in Ukraine and jointly with the international community seek solutions aimed at ending the worsening political crisis in the country and at meeting the aspirations of the people of Ukraine as to integration into the European Union and the democratic future of their country.

Benediktas Juodka

Chair of the Committee