Ukrainians in Portugal ask deputies to recognize Russia as a terrorist
The president of the Association of Ukrainians in Portugal appealed to members of the Assembly of the Republic to recognize Russia as “a state sponsor of international terrorism”.
In a statement, Pavlo Sadokha also asks the President of the Assembly of the Republic and the leaders of the Parliamentary Groups to also recognize the Wagner Group as an “organization protected in terrorist acts and that all preventive measures be taken to prevent new terrorist attacks by Russia against Russia Ukraine and other countries”.
On Monday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky had already appealed to the parliaments of all NATO countries to declare Russia a “terrorist state” and asked for more air and anti-missile defense systems.
In the note, the president of the Association of Ukrainians in Portugal highlights that the “adoption of this resolution would be an important step towards diplomatic support for Ukraine, its citizens and the restoration of justice”.
Pavlo Sadokha recalls that since the beginning of the “armed aggression” in February 2014, the “Russian Federation has used terror tactics against the civilian population, such as the indiscriminate bombing of cities and towns, the use of prohibited ammunition, summary executions for cleaning ethnicity, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, kidnapping, forced deportation and attacks against civilians”.
The President of the Association also points out that “some of the main perpetrators of terrorist attacks against the civilian population initiated by the Russian State are private military networks of mercenaries, in particular the Wagner Group”.
“Awarding Russia the status of a state sponsor of international terrorism would play a crucial role in reinforcing Russia’s advantages, economic, financial and diplomatic isolation and Russia’s subsequent inability to finance a brutal war against Ukraine”, is underlined in the note. .
For Pavlo Sadokha, recognizing Russia as a “State sponsor of terrorism” would be “a strong signal in public opinion, discouraging any public, political and economic support” by other States, organizations and commercial dealings with Russia or “assisting it in trust evasion schemes”.
On Monday the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, defended, in a videoconference intervention at the 68th annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, in Madrid, that Russia is carrying out a “genocidal policy” in Ukraine, which it targets the civilian population or energy and water supply infrastructure, with effects similar to those of weapons of mass destruction.
The Ukrainian president therefore asked the parliaments of the 30 NATO countries to declare Russia a “terrorist state”, as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and the Czech Republic have already done.
Zelensky also asked for the maintenance and reinforcement of rewards to Russia because of “the terror” that it is causing to Ukrainians, and help to “increase the protection” of Ukraine, namely, more air defense and anti-missile systems, “in quantity and quality enough”.