JOINT STATEMENT BY THE SPEAKERS OF THE PARLIAMENTS OF UKRAINE AND THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA

JOINT STATEMENT BY THE SPEAKERS OF THE PARLIAMENTS OF UKRAINE

AND THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA

On October 24, 2024, in Riga, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk and the Speaker of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia Daiga Mierina held a meeting with the participation of members of the parliaments of the two countries. As a result of the meeting, the parties adopted a Joint Statement, in which:

reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders, as well as their categorical rejection of the illegal attempt to change the status of the territories of Ukraine, the Russian-occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Kherson regions;

expressed support for the Ukrainian Peace Formula as the only real plan for achieving just and sustainable peace in Ukraine and on the European continent, based on respect for the peremptory norms of international law and the UN Charter;

stressed the significance of the Victory Plan of Ukraine, presented on 16 October 2024 by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine;

stressed that Ukraine's right to proportionate self-defense is enshrined in the UN Charter, and called on partners who supply weapons to Ukraine to lift any restrictions on their use when it comes to legitimate military targets on the territory of the Russian Federation;

noted the importance of ensuring the responsibility of the aggressor state and the states accomplices of aggression, their military and political leadership for the establishment of the principle of the rule of law in the world, and expressed support for the creation of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, which would be based on the principles of legitimacy and broad interregional support;

called for further practical measures to establish a mechanism to compensate the Ukrainian people for the losses caused by Russia's unlawful unprovoked aggression, in particular through the transfer to the people of Ukraine of frozen Russian assets, as well as profits from them;

called for the strengthening of European and national sanctions against the aggressor state of the Russian Federation and Belarus and other states accomplices of aggression against Ukraine, as well as the strengthening of systematic measures for strict and active control over the circumvention of sanctions;

stressed the irreversibility of Ukraine's course towards Euro-Atlantic integration, which should culminate in Ukraine's full membership in NATO, highlighted the steadfast support of Latvia, and called on other NATO member states to likewise support Ukraine's official application to join NATO, which is supported by the majority of Ukrainian society;

stressed the importance of continuing Ukraine's integration into the European Union, implementing the necessary reforms that will contribute to Ukraine's compliance with the common values of the European Union;

underscored the political and practical support provided by Latvia, including, among others, training and experience transfer programmes in EU integration for the Ukrainian Government and Parliament administrations, and called on the EU Member States to provide comprehensive methodological support to Ukrainian institutions for the implementation of the necessary reforms as soon as possible;

noted the role of the Republic of Latvia in facilitating the implementation of the initiative of the International Crimea Platform, in particular the holding of the Third Parliamentary Summit of the initiative in Riga;

stressed the need to further strengthen cooperation between the Ukrainian and Latvian parliaments as an important component of Ukrainian-Latvian relations, the development of inter-parliamentary relations between Ukraine and the Baltic States, Poland, and Nordic countries;

stated that taking into account the comprehensive support provided by the Latvian people to the Ukrainian people – at the level of the Parliament, President, Government, municipalities, non-governmental organizations, civil society – in the context of illegal unprovoked full-scale Russian aggression, relations between Ukraine and the Republic of Latvia have reached a strategic level, and called for the formal consolidation of this status in an appropriate way in the near future.

 

Head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine               Ruslan STEFANCHUK

Speaker of the Saeimas of the Republic of Latvia              Daiga MIERIŅA