UA
FR
DEHonorary consulates of the Republic of Lithuania and the Republic of Latvia opened in the towns of Slovyansk and Severodonetsk in the Joint Forces Operation area, the JFO press centre informs.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Lithuania to Ukraine Valdemaras Sarapinas noted that Lithuania and other Baltic states had always been and would remain reliable partners of Ukraine in its struggle for territorial integrity and would support Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO and the European Union.
“We are here today! And we will stay here until the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine are fully restored. You are not and will not be alone in your struggle, a struggle for which we all owe you so much,” Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima (Parliament) of the Republic of Latvia Rihards Kols said.
As noted, the delegation of diplomats got acquainted with the current security situation on the line of contact and visited the border crossing point “Zolote,” located on the line of contact in the Luhansk region.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba believes that the allies of Ukraine do not react harshly enough to the issuance of passports by the Russian Federation to residents of the occupied territories of Donbas.
“We have little physical ability to influence the issuance of passports in the occupied territories of Donbas, but harsh sanctions pressure in response to such actions by Russia would significantly slow down [the process]. As there was no such pressure, there were only words, Russia is issuing passports en masse there,” the minister said.
He also added that the consequence of such “passportisation” is that the Russian authorities articulated the idea of protecting Donbas as Russian citizens live there.
Bohdan Marusyak
