Seimas urges Russia to end the aggression and provocations against Ukraine

Press release, 27 April 2021

 

In view of the ongoing Russia’s excessive military build-up at the Ukrainian border and in the occupied Crimean peninsula, the Seimas adopted a resolution which calls on the Russian Federation to end the aggression, provocations, and spreading of propaganda against Ukraine, immediately withdraw the forces from the Ukrainian border, honour its international commitments, including the Minsk Agreements, and resume the cooperation based on international law and mutual respect.       

 

The resolution (draft No XIVP-435) was adopted by 102 votes in favour and one abstention.

 

In its resolution, the Seimas deplores the unprovoked military aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and other aggressive unilateral actions that grossly violate bilateral and multilateral agreements and international law standards and jeopardise European security.

 

The Lithuanian Parliament urges the Russian Federation to allow access to the temporarily occupied territories in eastern Ukraine for international organisations providing humanitarian aid to the local population, to close illegal detention facilities, release Ukrainian citizens arbitrarily detained there, and cease granting passports in the occupied territories and changing their demographic composition.   

 

The resolution also calls on EU Member States to refrain from supporting the implementation of energy projects, such as Nord Stream 2, which are weakening the Euro-Atlantic unity. Moreover, the Seimas invites the international community to support Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, tighten the targeted economic and personal sanctions against Russia and its representatives associated with aggression against Ukraine, and coordinate the sanction policy by imposing personal sanctions against individuals engaged in corrupt activities in Russia and Ukraine.

 

‘Meanwhile Ukraine is called on to continue reforms, especially in the judiciary, prosecution, and financial sectors and, certainly, address corruption. The latter topic will be the focus of a large scale fourth international Ukraine Reform Conference to be held in Vilnius on 7–8 July 2021,’ said Žygimantas Pavilionis, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, when presenting the resolution.

 

The adopted document reiterates Lithuania’s firm and consistent support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within the internationally recognised borders, as well as its course of the European and Euro-Atlantic integration, and Lithuania’s refusal to ever recognise Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.

  

 

 

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