The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) is seriously concerned about the repeatedly declared intent of President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt to re-engage the Russian Federation in the work of PACE, including during his opening statement on 10 October 2016 to the Autumn session of PACE, and urges all PACE member states to insist on full compliance with the PACE mission and resolutions.
In a letter to the PACE President dated 26 September 2016 UWC President Eugene Czolij made reference to the Declaration of the PACE Bureau from 24 June 2016 Reaffirming the role of the Assembly as a pan‑European forum for inter-parliamentary dialogue and co-operation which reads in part:
As a statutory organ of the Council of Europe, the Assembly promotes co-operation among parliamentarians to achieve the goals of the Organisation to unite democracies, around common values […]
[…] Our common interests in protecting human rights, democracy and the rule of law, both at national and international level, are stronger than the issues that divide us.
Highlighting PACE Resolutions 1990 (2014), 2034 (2015) and 2063 (2015) that specifically refer to the illegal annexation of Crimea, the violations of human rights on the peninsula including freedom of speech, and the military actions of the Russian Federation in Eastern Ukraine, the UWC President underscored that there has been no attempt on the part of the Russian Federation to address any of the concerns raised by PACE and there has been no demonstration on the part of the Russian Federation of any common interest in protecting human rights, democracy or the rule of law.
“The Ukrainian World Congress maintains the position that there can be no constructive dialogue with the Russian Federation based on mutual respect until it fully implements the Minsk agreements, returns the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and city of Sevastopol to Ukraine’s control, withdraws its troops from Eastern Ukraine, and addresses all of the issues that continue to be consequences of these blatant violations of international law and agreements,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
