The presidents of nine former European communist countries that are part of NATO said on Sunday that they will never recognize Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions and reaffirmed their full solidarity with Ukraine.
“We reiterate our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and will not and never recognize Russia’s attempts to annex Ukrainian territory,” they said in a joint statement.
The text is signed by the Presidents of Slovakia (Zuzana Caputová), Estonia (Alar Karis), Latvia (Egils Levits), Lithuania (Gitanas Nauseda), North Macedonia (Stevo Pendarovski), Montenegro (Milo Ðukanovic), Poland (Andrzej Duda ), Czech Republic (Milos Zeman) and Romania (Klaus Iohannis).
Of the nine countries, only North Macedonia and Montenegro are not yet members of the European Union (EU).
The statement lacks the signatures of the leaders of four other ex-communist countries that are members of NATO and the EU: Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday formalized the annexation of four Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk (in Donbass, east), Kherson and Zaporijia (south), under partial control of Russian forces.
The measure, rejected by the Ukrainian authorities and the international community, came in the eighth month of the Ukraine war, which Russia began with its invasion of the neighboring country on February 24.
“We support Ukraine in its defense against the Russian invasion, demand that Russia immediately withdraw from all occupied territories and encourage all allies to significantly increase their military aid to Ukraine,” the nine presidents said in the statement.
The heads of state involved visited Kiev during the war and said in the statement that they “witnessed with their own eyes the effects of Russian aggression”.
“We cannot remain silent about the flagrant violation of international law by the Russian Federation,” they said, justifying the joint statement.
The nine presidents also defended that “all those who commit crimes of aggression should be held accountable and brought to justice.”
They also expressed support for the decision of the NATO summit in Bucharest, in 2008, “on Ukraine’s future accession”.
On the day Russia declared its annexation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed Ukraine’s formal application for NATO membership, calling for an emergency procedure.
The possibility of Ukraine joining the Atlantic Alliance was one of Putin’s justifications for ordering the invasion after the Allies refused to give written guarantees that it would never happen.
The annexation of the four Ukrainian regions, which correspond to about 15 percent of Ukraine’s territory, took place after referendums not recognized by the international community were held between September 23 and 27.
Russia had already annexed the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine in 2014, following a similar process.
Pope begs Putin to end ‘spiral of violence’ and criticizes annexations
Pope Francis on Sunday pleaded with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the “spiral of violence” in Ukraine, while criticizing the annexation of territories as “contrary to international law”.
In the blessing of the Angelus, in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope addressed the President of the Russian Federation, also out of love for his people, to end the “spiral of violence and death”.
Source: DN
