By KYIV. Dec 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk has addressed President of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg Fernand Etgen with a call to recognize Russia as a terrorist state.
"On behalf of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Deputy Chairperson addressed the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg with a call to adopt a resolution on the recognition of Russia as a terrorist state. The parliament of another Benelux country – the Netherlands – as well as PACE, NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Baltic states, the senates of Poland and the Czech Republic have already approved such decision," the press service of the Ukrainian parliament said on Thursday.
During a meeting with Etgen in Luxembourg, Kondratiuk informed him about the situation in Ukraine, numerous war crimes committed by the Russian occupiers against the civilians, massive terrorist attacks on civilian and critical infrastructure facilities, and emphasized that such actions and crimes should be identified as terrorism.
They also discussed the issue of restoration of justice for the Ukrainian people, the importance of punishing war criminals at international tribunals and in courts, as well as ensuring of compensations for the damage caused to Ukraine.
"We are asking Luxembourg to support the initiative of Ukraine and a range of other countries and join in the creation of a Special International Tribunal for Russia’s crimes of aggression," Kondratiuk said.
She also stressed that Ukraine highly appreciates the principal support of Luxembourg for the landmark resolutions of the UN that do not recognize Russia’s attempt to annex Ukrainian territories and approve the mechanism of compensation for the damage caused to Ukraine by the Russian invasion.
"Luxembourg has also blocked Russian assets estimated at EUR 2.5 billion. Ukraine is sincerely grateful to Luxembourg for 30 recently delivered 3D scanners that help to digitize evidence of Russia’s war crimes," Kondratiuk said.
In turn, Etgen said that Luxembourg has stopped having any contacts with Russia, since the aggressor state broke the international law, and the Chamber of Deputies condemned the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
"It is important to avoid exhaustion and tiredness from this war. We should work not only on the accounting of war crimes, but also on qualifying them. The international justice should be a key tool and driving force in the fight for solidarity and justice," he said.
He also noted that the role of parliamentarians as "democracy guards" is important in the fight for justice and reporting the truth about the events in Ukraine to the international community.
