On Tuesday, 26 June, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, Head of the Latvian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, participated in the central debate on support for Ukraine at the Assembly's summer session in Strasbourg. The Assembly approved three resolutions expressing support, inter alia, for the establishment of a special tribunal for Russia to be held accountable on the basis of a special treaty between the Council of Europe and Ukraine.

“Sanctions must be strengthened, the frozen Russian state assets must be confiscated and directed towards the reconstruction of Ukraine; and the Council of Europe, together with international partners, must establish a special tribunal to prosecute the perpetrators of Russia’s crime of aggression against Ukraine,” said the Deputy Speaker of the Saeima to the parliamentarians of 46 member states.

"I welcome the proposal to set up a special tribunal under the auspices of the Council of Europe. It is important that it receives cross-regional support and is able to bring the main perpetrators of the crime of aggression to justice. It is of utmost importance for Latvia that the special tribunal is effective, prevents impunity, ensures justice for Ukraine and serves as a preventive tool to avert further crimes of aggression, as well as to protect the rules-based international order, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica emphasised.

With regard to the frozen Russian state assets, the Council of Europe has set up a damage register, and the Riga Principles were adopted to ensure its effective functioning. This report and the previously approved report on support for the reconstruction of Ukraine provide a legal basis for the legal transfer of frozen Russian state assets to Ukraine. It now depends on the will and courage of the governments of the Member States to implement it, including the decision to establish a real compensation mechanism, said Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica.

“As regards the erasing of cultural identity and the russification policy, unfortunately these are common Russian practices that also my country has experienced during the occupation period and centuries before. Indeed, as highlighted in the resolution drawn up by the Assembly, the Russian Federation uses cultural cleansing as a weapon of war in a broader campaign of extreme violence,” Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica underlined in the discussion on the drafted resolutions.

On Tuesday 25 June, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe elected the new Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset. The Deputy Speaker of the Saeima congratulated the newly elected senior official of the Council of Europe, wishing to strengthen human rights and democracy and continue to strongly support Ukraine.

Saeima Press Service