Ukrainian Parliament Calls on World to Support Crimea Platform to Counter Russian Aggression

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has supported a resolution calling on the United Nations, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly, the European Parliament, as well as governments and parliaments of foreign states to strengthen international cooperation within the Crimea Platform to counter the aggression of the Russian Federation.

“The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine … calls on the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution supporting the Crimea Platform as a tool to consolidate international efforts aimed at de-occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, as well as calls on UN member states to join the work of the Crimea Platform in all dimensions,” the statement reads.

The Verkhovna Rada made a similar appeal to the PACE and the European Parliament.

In addition, the Ukrainian parliament stressed the importance of developing a unified and consolidated position of the international democratic community in counteracting Russian aggression against Ukraine and called for the establishment of the Crimea Platform Inter-Parliamentary Coordination Council. It is expected to work on the basis of coordination of efforts at the inter-parliamentary level.

A few hours earlier, the participants of the Crimea Platform – 46 states and international organisations – signed a joint declaration following the summit. Thus, they reaffirmed their support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, condemned the temporary occupation of Crimea, the militarisation of the peninsula, human rights violations, and freedom of navigation in the region. They also called on the Russian Federation to constructively participate in the Platform’s activities.

The participants also decided to continue the policy of non-recognition of the illegal occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and to consider the introduction of further political, diplomatic and restrictive measures against Russia, if it is provided for by the legal system of each participant of the Platform and in accordance with appropriate procedures when necessary and if Russia’s actions require it.

Bohdan Marusyak