Seimas calls on the EU and NATO Member States to maximise their efforts in initiating a comprehensive international isolation of Russia

Press release, 21 March 2023

Today, the Seimas has adopted a resolution which invites the EU and its Member States to jointly develop and expand an EU legal framework for the designation of states as sponsors of terrorism and states that use means of terrorism and to include Russia in the list of such states sponsors of terrorism. The resolution also calls for ensuring the implementation of the European Union’s sanctions policy by preventing any circumvention of sanctions, examining such breaches of sanctions, and holding perpetrators to account.

The resolution in question was adopted unanimously by 114 votes in favour.

‘We believe that it is necessary to raise the issue of political and legal measures to be taken and implementation mechanisms to be adopted in order to define the relations of natural and legal persons in the EU Member States, including Lithuania, with the Russian Federation, as a state sponsor of terrorism and a state perpetrator of terrorism, as well as with other states recognised as sponsors of terrorism,’ said Raimundas Lopata, initiator of the resolution and Chair of the Committee for the Future.  

According to Mr Lopata, this resolution will give our diplomacy some support to continue working in this direction. ‘The EU’s decision-making process is quite slow. Political weight and our diplomacy would be helpful for advocating for more active and faster decisions. […] Let us face it, there has been some discussion on the subject in the EU, but this discussion has been slow, sluggish and lengthy,’ Mr Lopata observed when presenting the resolution.

The resolution also invites the EU Member States to consider appointing a permanent European Commissioner responsible for overseeing the preparation and enforcement of sanctions; to urge the EU candidate countries and potential candidates to align their policies with the EU’s common sanctions policy; to complete the legal regime allowing for the confiscation of the Russian Federation’s frozen assets by the EU; and to establish an international compensation mechanism for the damage caused by Russia’s aggression as a means to compensate Ukraine for the damage caused by the war.

In the resolution, the Seimas appeals to its allies, namely, the EU Member States and NATO member countries, to maximise their efforts in initiating a comprehensive international isolation of the Russian Federation, including with regard to its membership of international organisations and bodies, such as the United Nations and others, closing and banning, in the Member States, Russian state-affiliated institutions that may be exploited for spreading disinformation and propaganda or for similar purposes, and restricting Russia’s influence in other areas, including economy, finance, science, culture, sport, tourism, social media, etc.

Having regard to the abovementioned provisions of the resolution, the Seimas proposes that the Government raise at international level the issue of the designation of the Russian Federation as a state sponsor and perpetrator of terrorism, as well as raise the issues of Russia’s responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Ukraine and the establishment of a Special International Criminal Tribunal to investigate Russia’s crime of aggression and address these issues both at EU and democratic world levels.

Moreover, the resolution recommends that the Government seek at EU level the inclusion on EU sanction lists of political parties, namely, United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, and A Just Russia — For Truth, which are responsible for the actions of the terrorist state and which support Russia’s war against Ukraine, including all the members of those parties.

The resolution also invites the Government to submit to the Seimas amendments to legal acts strengthening the legal responsibility for breaches of international sanctions and attempts to circumvent them, in order to ensure that national penalties for breaching the EU sanctions are effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

Finally, the Government is advised to oblige the authorities involved in the control of strategic goods to establish an effective national control mechanism and measures to ensure the export and transit controls of dual-use and potentially dual–use goods or sensitive technologies that could be used for military purposes.

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