The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania,

reminding that three years ago the Russian Federation, by using armed military force, occupied and annexed a part of the Ukrainian territory – the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;

having regard to the UN General Assembly Resolution of 27 March 2014 expressing support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and affirming the commitment of the United Nations to recognize Crimea as part of the Ukrainian territory;

having regard to the International Criminal Court's Report on Preliminary Examination Activities of 14 November 2016 in relation to the international armed conflict in Ukraine, stating that the military aggression, which was unleashed by the Russian Federation three years ago in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and has currently expanded to Eastern Ukraine, gravely infringes the Charter of the United Nations, the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum and other international agreements;

having regard to the UN General Assembly Resolution of 19 December 2016 on the situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine);

having regard to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Resolution of 4 July 2016 on violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Crimea;

expresses its strong support for the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine and the inviolability of its internationally recognized borders;

strongly condemns the ongoing occupation and annexation of part of the sovereign territory of Ukraine – the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol – by the Russian Federation;

reiterates its call on the Russian Federation to end the illegal occupation and annexation of Crimea, withdraw its armed forces from the Ukrainian territory, immediately implement the Minsk agreements, and comply with international law and its own obligations under international law;

points out that the intensive militarisation of the Crimean peninsula carried out by the Russian Federation poses a threat to the security and stability of the whole of Europe;

declares that it does not recognise the results of the elections to the Russian Federation State Duma, held on 18 September 2016 in Crimea occupied by the Russian Federation and supports the decision of the European Union to add the representatives elected in Crimea to the list of persons subject to restrictive measures of the European Union;

strongly condemns gross and systematic violations of human rights with respect to the Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea occupied by the Russian Federation: intimidation and persecution, unlawful detention and imprisonment, application of laws of a discriminatory nature, infringements of the right to property and expropriation of property,restrictions on the freedoms of the media, expression, peaceful assembly, religion and belief, urges to expand the list of persons subject to restrictive measures of the European Union, adding the persons who have committed serious violations of human rights;

urges the authorities of the Russian Federation and the occupying authorities in Crimea to ensure for international human rights organisations and independent experts unimpeded access to Crimea and information on the human rights situation in order to objectively investigate and evaluate the human rights violations committed by the occupying authorities, calls for the implementation of resolutions of the UN General Assembly and recommendations on the human rights situation in Crimea of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and calls on the EU institutions and the Member States as well as the international community at large to take active steps to influence the decisions of the Russian Federation on these matters;

strongly condemns the ruling of the so-called Crimean Supreme Court of 26 April 2016, which found the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, the highest executive and representative authority, to be an extremist organisation and banned its activity;

supports the call made in the European Parliament resolution of 12 May 2016 on the Crimean Tatars for the EU to provide financial support for the activities of the Mejlis while it is in exile as well as for increased financing for human rights organisations working in Crimea;

expresses support for the Ukrainian authorities raising the issues of recovery of the occupied and annexed territory and claims for damages incurred in the course of occupation and annexation in international organisations and courts;

appeals to the political leaders, parliaments and governments of the transatlantic community and the European Union urging them to pursue an active policy of non-recognition of the occupation and annexation of Crimea and to uphold the sanctions regime in a principled manner, preventing any attempts to evade it; to further unanimously uphold the position that the termination of the occupation and annexation of Crimea is one of the conditions for the resumption of full cooperation with the Russian Federation, and the sanctions applied by the Western democratic communities for the actions that undermine the independence of Ukraine and infringe its territorial integrity should be maintained until Ukraine‘s territorial integrity is restored in accordance with the principles enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine and international law.

 

 

 

Speaker of the Seimas                                                             Viktoras Pranckietis