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Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Head of the Latvian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, stressed the need for the international community to ensure the return of captured Ukrainians to their homeland, during the debate on the resolution “Missing persons, prisoners of war and civilians in captivity as a result of the war of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine” held during the autumn session of the Assembly in Strasbourg, France.“The response of the international community has not recently reached the level necessary to achieve a just peace for Ukraine. Russia brutally violates the international order, fails to respect humanitarian and human rights with impunity. Achieving long-term peace in Ukraine and the region requires decisive and immediate action. Other international organisations should also promote pressure against Russia so that prisoners of war, civilians in captivity and abducted children can return home,” Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica said.

The Assembly, in its report on missing persons, prisoners of war and detained civilians as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, calls on states to use the principles of universal jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes related to torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of war and detained civilians, as well as ongoing prosecutions.

While discussing topical issues of the Council of Europe with Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica stressed the importance of reaching a clear agreement and further practical steps to establish a compensation mechanism that will complement the already functioning register of damages caused to Ukraine and its people by Russia’s aggression.

There is a large amount of frozen Russian state assets, which must be properly and fairly channelled towards the reconstruction of Ukraine. The decisions on the establishment of a compensation mechanism will allow progress to be made with the confiscation of the frozen assets and the actual payment of compensation, the Head of the Latvian delegation reiterated during the debate in the Assembly.

During the Autumn Session of the Assembly, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica also called on the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, to resolve the issue of Russian citizens employed in the Council of Europe by terminating their employment. 
In her address to parliamentarians representing 46 countries in the plenary session of the Assembly's autumn session, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica emphasised that in August this year, five Member States of the European Union paid 1.2 billion euros to the aggressor for imported gas and oil, and that this is unacceptable: “On the one hand, we are trying to find finance to support Ukraine, and on the other hand, finance for the Russian war machine continues to flow from the pockets of Europeans. It's absurd. It must be stopped immediately.”

The delegation of the Saeima participates in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe until 4 October in the French city of Strasbourg. The Assembly brings together parliamentarians from 46 Member States and Latvia is represented by the Head of the Delegation Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Head Edmunds Cepurītis, Permanent Representative Andris Bērziņš and Alternate Representatives Jurģis Klotiņš, Ričards Šlesers and Aiva Vīksna.


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Saeima Press Service