Mr. Chairperson,

We join previous speakers in warmly welcoming President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Mr. George Tsereteli back to the Permanent Council and thank him for comprehensive presentation and expressing views of possible cooperation in addressing the current challenges in the OSCE region.

Ukraine upholds productive cooperation with the OSCE PA. The members of the Permanent Delegation of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine participate actively in the Assembly’s meetings and put forward valid proposals on draft Resolutions.

We appreciate, Mr. President, your visits to Ukraine this year. The high-level meetings with the legislative and executive authorities of the country have reaffirmed Ukraine’s respect for the OSCE PA. We are looking forward to your next visit this year. I believe that your active involvement and the number of your visits and visits by the representatives of the PA Committees held during this year to Ukraine reconfirmed the high interest of the PA to the peaceful settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and enhanced awareness of the situation in the country including on the ground. We also praise the Assembly for the active involvement in the monitoring of the presidential and parliamentary elections in my country this year.

Dear colleagues,

The OSCE PA continues to be an operational platform for promotion and defense of the fundamental OSCE principles enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act.

Since the beginning of the Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2014, Assembly adopted annually Declarations and Resolutions regarding the violations of the Helsinki Principles by the Russian Federation, the abducted and illegally detained Ukrainian citizens in the Russian Federation, the violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.  Parliamentary Assembly repeatedly condemned these violations and called upon the Russian Federation to stop aggression against Ukraine, to reverse the attempted annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, to halt its destabilization campaign in Ukraine, in particular fueling the conflict in Donbas, to fully withdraw from Ukraine and to fully comply with its obligations under the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and other norms and principles of international law, including the OSCE principles and commitments.

The 2019 Luxembourg Declaration of the Assembly again called for de-occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, the withdrawal of Russian military forces from Ukrainian territory, and a comprehensive settlement of the conflict based on full implementation of the Minsk Agreements, in particular the obligations under the Minsk Agreements which have not been fulfilled by the Russian Federation.

This year’s OSCE PA Resolution on the militarization by the Russian Federation of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov draw attention to the previous Assembly’s decisions that were ignored by Russia, reiterated Assembly’s grave concern over the increasing militarization of the Crimean Peninsula and the Russian Federation’s intention to deploy nuclear weapons in that area, violating the non-nuclear status of Ukraine and further undermining global, European and regional peace and security as well as condemned the increasing militarization of the Sea of Azov, the Kerch Strait and the Black Sea by the Russian Federation.

Mr. President,

We took note that the Russian parliamentary delegation was trying from the very beginning of the annual session to use all the possible procedural tricks to rule out of the Assembly’s consideration two draft resolutions on the Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and Georgia. When those efforts appeared to be futile, they decided to put under the question the work of all the Assembly during the year, namely the full text of the Luxemburg Declaration.

We applaud to those parliamentarians who indicated to the Russian delegation its disrespect to the fellow members of the Assembly, as there was only one Russian member at the last plenary.

We also commend your efforts, Mr. President, and of the International Secretariat that all the formalities on the adoption of the final documents of the Annual session were observed according to the OSCEPA Rules of Procedures despite of numerous provocations based on groundless allegations.   

Mr. Chairperson,

Given that the OSCE PA, in its 2019 Luxemburg Declaration, reaffirmed its strong support for the sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, which include the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol and maritime areas, we therefore would encourage the Assembly and its respective General Committees to put high on the agenda the issue of prompt and full implementation of the adopted OSCE PA Resolutions to contribute to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in peaceful manner with full respect to norms of international law.

We believe that the parliamentary diplomacy could make its valuable contribution to the efforts aimed at halting Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, facilitating peaceful resolution and restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

In conclusion, I wish to thank you, Mr. President, once again for addressing the Permanent Council and express full support for the activities of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and its further efforts of defending the Helsinki principles. We remain confident that jointly we must not allow these principles be compromised.

I thank you.