Update: 07.04.2022 14:33
Released: 07.04.2022, 14:33

The European Parliament expressed outrage at the atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces and called for the perpetrators of war crimes to be held accountable.

In a resolution passed by 513 votes on Thursday (22 against and 19 abstentions), lawmakers called for further action, including an “immediate full embargo on imports of oil, coal, nuclear fuel and natural gas from Russia”.

A plan should be drawn up to ensure the security of energy supplies to the EU and a strategy for lifting sanctions if Russia “takes steps to restore Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and withdraw its troops completely from Ukrainian territory”.

Russia’s exclusion from the G20 and other multilateral organizations

The European Parliament stressed that the full and effective implementation of the existing sanctions should be a priority for the EU as a whole and for its international allies. They called on EU leaders to exclude Russia from the G20 and other multilateral cooperation organizations, such as the UN Human Rights Council, Interpol, the World Trade Organization, UNESCO and others, which would be an important signal that the international community will not return to dealing with aggressive state as in normal situations”.

To make sanctions more effective, Parliament called for the exclusion of Russian banks from the SWIFT system, a ban on entering EU territorial waters and landing at EU ports for all Russian-related vessels, and a ban on road freight transport to and from Russia and Belarus. The deputies also demanded the confiscation of all assets of Russian officials or oligarchs associated with the Putin regime, their intermediaries and white horses, and the assets of persons associated with the Lukashenko regime in Belarus.

Referring to Belarus’ involvement in the war in Ukraine, the resolution calls for sanctions against Belarus to be similar to those imposed on Russia, as any loopholes that would allow Putin to use Lukashenko’s assistance to evade sanctions must be removed.

Weapons supply must be continued and upgraded

MPs pointed to the shocking atrocities “undoubtedly war crimes” committed by Russian troops in Ukraine, especially in Bukh, as well as the complete or almost complete destruction of Mariupol, Volnovakh and other towns and villages, stressing that war crimes should be tried and summoned for the establishment of a special United Nations tribunal for the prosecution of crimes in Ukraine.

Parliament reiterated that arms supplies must be continued and strengthened so that Ukraine can defend itself effectively. The European Parliament supports further defense assistance to the Ukrainian armed forces, provided by individual member states and collectively through the European Peace Facility.

As a result of the war, nearly 6.5 million Ukrainians have been displaced and more than 4 million have fled to neighboring countriesThe European Parliament called for the establishment of a safe humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians fleeing the bombings and the strengthening of the EU’s humanitarian aid network in Ukraine.

Parliament strongly condemned Russia’s rhetoric, which suggested the possible use of weapons of mass destruction, and stressed that the use of such weapons of mass destruction was unacceptable and would have the most serious consequences.

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