The Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the parliaments of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland expressed joint support for Ukraine and its people during the committee delegations visit to Kyiv on Thursday, 25 August.

The Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees highlighted that the visit is a testimony of their support for the Ukrainian people who have made enormous sacrifices and continue to do so in order to retain the independence, territorial integrity, and democracy in Ukraine. “Our aim is to help Ukraine win the war and deal with the consequences by any means possible,” the parliamentarians emphasised.

The Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Chairs of the Baltic States and Finland, as well as the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Poland have adopted a joint statement condemning the violations of international law and war crimes committed by the Russian Armed Forces. In their statement, the Chairs emphasise that since Russia's unprovoked military attack on Ukraine, twelve million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes and over five million have been forced to flee their country, and note the atrocities committed by the Russian Armed Forces against Ukrainian civilians.

“Despite Russia’s attempts to subjugate Ukraine and demoralise the Ukrainian people, Ukrainians continue to firmly and strongly defend their country against the invaders. Ukraine will win this war, because it has justice and the will of the people on its side. We must do everything within our power to help achieve this aim—strategic defeat of Russia—as soon as possible. We must do it for the sake of the Ukrainian people and for all of us,” said Rihards Kols, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima.

The price that Russia pays for its aggression must be as high as possible. In their joint statement, the committee chairs call on the Euro Atlantic community and its partners to urgently strengthen and implement comprehensive sanctions against the Russian Federation to stop the ability of the Russian army to continue its military aggression in Ukraine. The statement also urges to increase military, financial humanitarian and diplomatic support to Ukraine, as well as unanimously support initiatives that condemn Russia's military actions in Ukraine and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The statement urges to isolate Russia from international and regional organisations, as well as to adopt equivalent decisions and establish equivalent sanctions against Belarus as a supporter of the Russian military aggression. The statement also calls on the European Union Member States and other western allies to immediately suspend tourism and limit the issue of entry visas for citizens of the Russian Federation.

Rihards Kols, Chair of the Saeima Foreign Affairs Committee, Laima Andrikienė, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Lithuania, Marko Mihkelson, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Estonia, and Jussi Halla-aho, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Finland, along with their delegations, are scheduled to meet their Ukrainian counterparts and see the devastation inflicted by the Russian Armed Forces in Irpin, Borodyanka, and Chernihiv, as well as visit the mass grave of war victims in Bucha.

Saeima Press Service