The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine met with Speaker of the Parliament of Finland Jussi Halla-Aho

"A visit to Ukraine on such days — the days of commemoration of the victims of the Holodomor of 1932-33 — is certainly a manifestation of solidarity with the Ukrainian people," the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stressed first of all. "russia continues to use the stalinist methods that it used years ago, using famine as a weapon. Therefore, such solidarity of our parliamentary friends is extremely important," he said.

Ruslan Stefanchuk expressed gratitude to Finland for its comprehensive support of Ukraine — political, defence, humanitarian, financial and advisory. In particular, he thanked for the supporting the Peace Formula of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy: "This is the formula that we want to reach — the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the return of all the territories of Ukraine, all issues related to a just and lasting peace."

The parties also discussed Ukraine's path to the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stressed that Finland's support is important for Ukraine. He noted that he hoped Finland would continue to support Ukraine on its path to full membership in the European Union. "We are looking forward to meeting with you in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in the near future," Ruslan Stefanchuk said of Finland's support for Ukraine's accession to NATO.

"Ukraine firmly supports the decisive actions of the Government of Finland aimed at neutralising russia's efforts to use migrants as a tool of hybrid influence," he said, stressing that the russian federation understands only one language — the language of force.

In this context, the parties also discussed the issue of bringing russia to justice, compensating for the damage caused by russia and blocking russian assets. "The issue of bringing russia to justice is very important for us," said Ruslan Stefanchuk, expressing hope for cooperation between the parliaments of Ukraine and Finland in developing legislative mechanisms to bring russia to justice, impose new sanctions and block russian assets — "everything necessary to make those who disregard international law answer for it."

For his part, the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, Jussi Halla-Aho noted that the Finnish Parliament does not have a tradition and parliamentary instrument to issue declarations on historical events, but after long and difficult debates between factions and parties, an agreement was reached to adopt a joint statement in which the Finnish side explains the concept of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 and states that there are grounds to consider the Holodomor a genocide of the Ukrainian people committed by the soviet authorities.

In the statement, in particular, the Finland-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, heads of parliamentary factions and MPs condemned the events that led to the deaths of millions of Ukrainians during the Holodomor, an artificial mass famine in 1932-1933. They stressed that they consider it justified to consider the Holodomor as genocide against the Ukrainian people by the stalinist regime and to recognise it as such.

The relevant signatures of the Finnish parliamentarians under the document were handed over to Ukraine.

https://www.rada.gov.ua/en/news/News/top_news/244200.html