Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine welcomes the adoption on July 3, 2024 by the Annual Summer session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) of the final document - the Bucharest Declaration of the Assembly, as well as the resolution "Security and Geopolitical Challenges in the OSCE Region: Ten Years of Armed Aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine”, which is an integral part of the Declaration.
In the resolution "Security and Geopolitical Challenges in the OSCE Region: Ten Years of Armed Aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine", initiated by the Permanent delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the OSCE PA, the Assembly, inter alia:
- condemns the Russian Federation’s aggressive war against Ukraine, which has been going on for 10 years;
- reiterates the non-recognition of the attempted illegal annexation by the Russian Federation of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk regions of Ukraine, and starting from 2022, - parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine;
- condemns the Russian Federation’s illegitimate so-called presidential elections in the temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation parts of Ukraine’s regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;
- condemns systematic Russia’s attacks against civilian infrastructure;
- condemns crimes against humanity committed by Russia against the people of Ukraine, the forcible deportation of Ukrainian civilians, including children, to the Russian Federation, as documented in the report by the OSCE Moscow Mechanism in 2024.
The OSCE PA recognizes the destruction of Ukraine's environment by the Russian armed forces as an ecocide. The Assembly recognizes that the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine poses a threat to Ukraine's nuclear facilities and has devastating consequences for Ukraine's economic development.
In addition, it is stated in the resolution that Assembly fully supports the Peace Formula of the President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as the only effective and realistic plan, based on the norms of international law and the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The Assembly recognizes Ukraine's right to exercise its legitimate self-defence in full conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and calls upon the OSCE participating States to continue their efforts in supporting Ukraine, including providing military aid. The OSCE PA welcomes the creation of a register of damage for Ukraine as the first step towards an international compensation mechanism for victims of the Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Another key provision of the Ukrainian resolution is the recognition by the Assembly that the actions of the Russian Federation’s armed forces and its political and military leadership during the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine that began on 24 February 2022, as an expansion of the ongoing armed aggression against Ukraine since February 2014, constitute genocide against the Ukrainian people.
The OSCE PA urges OSCE participating States to join the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, as well as to achieve the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war, civilians and children, calls on them to contribute to the creation of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.
A new important element of the resolution is noticing the importance for the OSCE PA and the OSCE Chairpersonship to take a resolute position on launching the process leading to exclusion of the Russian Federation in view of its illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression and atrocities, which shattered not only the fundamentals of the Helsinki Final Act but also the very basics of humanity and dignity. Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has repeatedly emphasized the need for that.
We note the approval of the resolutions of the three OSCE PA General Committees, in which the Assembly, inter alia, confirms its support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, the de-occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as the complete withdrawal of the Russian armed forces from the territory of Ukraine, calls on the parliaments of the OSCE participating States to ensure the continuation of political, financial, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine to repel Russian aggression.
The Bucharest Declaration contains a number of resolutions initiated by the parliamentary delegations of other OSCE PA member countries. These resolutions highlight priority issues for our country in countering ongoing Russian aggression and testify to the demonstration of solidarity by the parliaments of the countries of the OSCE region.
The approval of the Bucharest Declaration once again confirmed the unity of the international community in condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine and demonstrated strong political support for Ukraine, the determination of the members of the parliaments of the OSCE region to leave Russia in international isolation until the armed aggression against Ukraine is stopped, the occupation troops are withdrawn from the Ukrainian territory in its internationally recognized borders, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and the perpetrators are brought to justice in accordance with international law.
For reference: full text of the OSCE PA Bucharest Declaration is available on the OSCE PA official site at: https://www.oscepa.org/en/documents/annual-sessions/2024-bucharest/declaration-30/5029-bucharest-declaration-eng/file