“We must in all possible ways contribute to the victory of justice over Russia in its war against Ukraine. Russia must be held accountable for its atrocities. In order to restore justice and dispel the feeling of impunity, the Russian frozen funds need to be redirected to the reconstruction of Ukraine. The issue of returning abducted children to home in Ukraine is fundamentally important," said Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, Head of the Latvian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, on Monday, 22 January, in a conversation with the newly elected President of the Assembly Theodoros Rousopoulos in Strasbourg, France.

The Deputy Speaker of the Saeima congratulated the newly elected President of the Assembly on taking the office.

The resilience of democracy in 2024 will be a particularly important issue, as it will cement itself in the world’s history as the largest election year ever. In such circumstances, the Assembly must play an active role in guarding democracy and preventing real impact of foreign interference on democratic electoral processes, emphasised Deputy Speaker of the Saeima. The Assembly has a special role to play in safeguarding the principles and values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

Deputy Speaker Kalniņa-Lukaševica participates in the work of the Assembly’s session in the French city of Strasbourg. The session will discuss Russian kidnapped children and how to bring children back to Ukraine and their families, the parliamentarians will also discuss ensuring media freedom and safety of journalists, and the situation in Belarus. Deputy Speaker Kalniņa-Lukaševica represents a political committee drafting a report on support for the reconstruction of Ukraine and working on a solution for legal confiscation and channelling of the Russian Central Bank’s frozen assets to Ukraine.

Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, is accompanied by Edmunds Cepurītis, Deputy Head of the Latvian Delegation to the Assembly, Andris Bērziņš, Permanent Representative of the Delegation and Aiva Vīksna, Substitute Permanent Representative.