Seimas adopted a resolution on the recognition of destruction of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union as genocide

Press release, 7 June 2019

The Seimas recognised the crimes committed by the Soviet Union in 1944 against the Crimean Tatar people as genocide and invited the international community to stand in solidarity with Crimean Tatars and continue the policy of non-recognition of occupation and annexation of Ukrainian Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014. The Resolution addressing the issue (draft No XIIIP-3476(2)) was adopted by 77 votes in favour with one abstention.

The Resolution condemns the planned and executed destruction of Crimean Tatars by the totalitarian regime of the Soviet Union in 1944, as well as the deportation of Crimean Tatars from their homeland in the Crimean peninsula to uninhabited areas in Central Asia, where famine, disease, torture and hard forced labour killed a major part of the deported population.

Moreover, the Resolution condemns illegal occupation and annexation of Ukrainian Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, discrimination against the civilian population and Crimean Tatars on the basis of language, culture, religion, and ethnicity, and cancelation of the Crimean Tatar autonomy.

Rimas Rudaitis, Chief Specialist, Press Office, Information and Communication Department, tel. +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]