COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS STATEMENT ON CONDEMNING THE ONGOING OCCUPATION AND ANNEXATION OF CRIMEA (21 March 2018)

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

recalling that four years ago, the Russian Federation used armed military force and occupied Crimea and Sevastopol, a territorial part of Ukraine, thus seriously violating the Charter of the United Nations, the Helsinki Final Act, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, and other international agreements;

in view of the United Nations General Assembly Resolutions No 68/262 of 27 March 2014, No 71/205 of 19 December 2016, and No 72/190 of 19 December 2017, whereby the United Nations undertakes to recognise Crimea as a part of the territory of Ukraine and expresses its concern about the violations of human rights in the occupied Crimean Peninsula;

having regard to the Declaration of 16 March 2018 by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on behalf of the EU on the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol;

strictly condemns the ongoing occupation and annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol, a part of the sovereign territory of Ukraine, by the Russian Federation;

reiterates its strong support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and inviolability of its internationally recognised borders;

strongly supports the decisions of the Council of the European Union to extend the sanctions against the Russian Federation for the occupation and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in violation of the international law;

strictly condemns gross and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as the discriminatory policy against the Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea, occupied by the Russian Federation;

calls on the authorities of the Russian Federation and the occupying authorities in Crimea to ensure unrestricted access to Crimea for the Human Rights Monitoring Mission by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as for other human rights organisations and independent experts, in order to impartially investigate and evaluate the human rights violations;

declares its non-recognition of the presidential elections of the Russian Federation held in the Russian-occupied Crimea on 18 March 2018;

invites the political leaders, parliaments and governments of the international community and of the EU to unanimously maintain the position that the sanctions of the Western democratic community for actions harming the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine should be retained until Ukraine’s territorial integrity is restored.

Juozas Bernatonis

Chair of the Committee