The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) welcomes the Resolution on Restoration of the Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity of Ukraine and Resolution on Strengthening Energy Security in the OSCE Region adopted on 9 July 2017 by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly in Minsk.
In the Resolution on Restoration of the Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity of Ukraine, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly:
- Reiterates its condemnation of the temporary occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation and the ongoing Russian hybrid aggression against Ukraine in Donbas;
- Recognizes that the Russian Federation has completely failed to implement the provisions of the previous OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Resolutions on violations of fundamental Helsinki principles and international norms on human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;
- Calls on participating States to strictly refrain from any steps that could lead to direct or indirect recognition of the results of the illegal elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine).
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly also encourages:
- further consultations to reach an agreement on the deployment of the Police Mission to certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine;
- the OSCE Institutions to continue to take actions aimed at monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;
- the OSCE Chairmanship, OSCE Institutions and participating States to make efforts and use all instruments available to facilitate the release of all abducted and illegally detained Ukrainian citizens who have become political prisoners in Russia.
UWC President Eugene Czolij raised many of the issues included in these resolutions with OSCE delegations in the framework of the 16th Winter Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna, Austria, during a working visit on 23-24 February 2017.
In a media release from 28 February 2017 the UWC informed that “the UWC President called for the deployment of an OSCE police mission to Donbas and a monitoring mission to Crimea, and the strengthening of targeted economic sanctions against the Russian Federation until it fully complies with the Minsk agreements. In addition, Eugene Czolij called for the defence of human and national rights of residents of the illegally occupied by the Russian Federation Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, and concrete action for the release by the Russian Federation of Ukrainian political prisoners, including journalists Roman Sushchenko and Mykola Semena.
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly also adopted a Resolution on Strengthening Energy Security in the OSCE Region in which it:
- Recognizes that strengthening energy security requires sustained measures at national, regional, and international levels in several areas, including increasing energy efficiency, market transparency, diversifying energy supplies, and protecting the critical energy infrastructure and energy supply systems.
On 24 February 2017, the UWC President addressed the Side event of the 16th Winter Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on the topic “Strengthening energy security in the OSCE region,” during which he called upon OSCE member states to diversify channels for receiving energy resources, and to not limit their source of energy to one country, namely because the Russian Federation has repeatedly taken advantage of energy dependence as an instrument with which to pressure and intimidate not only Ukraine, but EU member states.
“The Ukrainian World Congress supports the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Resolution on Restoration of the Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity of Ukraine and Resolution on Strengthening Energy Security in the OSCE Region, and calls for the expeditious implementation of these resolutions,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
