Parliamentarians from more than 40 countries signed a joint statement in Prague on Tuesday supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace plan, which includes the return of Crimea to Ukraine, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
‘We support President Zelensky’s peace formula’said Marketa Pekarova, head of the lower house of the Czech parliament and host of the second parliamentary summit of the International Crimean Platform, which ended on Tuesday in Prague.
The joint statement document, drafted by Pekarova, promises “overwhelming support” for the liberation and integration of the Crimean Peninsula into Ukraine.
The International Crimea Platform was established in the summer of 2021 at the initiative of Zelensky and aims to coordinate all national and international efforts to return the peninsula to Ukrainian sovereignty.
The text also condemns “Russian responsibility for the consequences of the war” in Ukraine, which was invaded by Moscow troops in February 2022 as part of an offensive that lasted more than 600 days, specifically in the areas of human rights and environment, both in Crimea and in the annexed areas in the east and south of the country.
The annexed regions, which represent almost 15% of Ukraine’s territory, include Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporijia in the south.
Moscow is also blamed in the statement for the “deterioration of the security situation” in the Black Sea, which means that Ukrainian grains can no longer flow freely to the rest of the world, and for the “energy crisis”, as European countries have to find alternatives for Russian natural gas and oil.
The parliamentarians’ statement paid particular attention to the complaint about the involvement of the Russian Federation and Belarus in the “illegal kidnapping of Ukrainian children.”
According to Pekarova, around 4,000 children from the Tatar minority were kidnapped in Crimea alone and taken against their will to Russia and Belarus.
Another point of the final declaration is the creation of support groups for the Crimean Platform in national parliaments.
Source: DN
