Statement by the BSPC President and Vice-President on the war in Ukraine

1Stockholm/Berlin 25 February 2022Statement by the BSPC President and Vice -Presidenton the war in UkraineThe President and the Vice -President of the Baltic Sea ParliamentaryConference condemn in the strongest possible terms the completely unjustand full -scale military attack and invasion being carried out by the RussianFederation against the sovereignty, independence, and people of Ukraine.We also express our support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. Wedeplore the loss of life and the human suffering, and we are standing insolidarity with Ukraine.The attacks on Ukraine pose a serious threat to peace, stability anddemocracy across Europe and the world. They defy the rights and freedomsof all Europeans, not just thos e of Ukrainian citizens.These military attacks are contrary to both international law and Europeansecurity. They violate the principles enshrined in the Charter of the UnitedNations and the basic principles of International and Humanitarian Law.We appeal with all possible urgency to the Russian Federation toimmediately stop the use of aggressive armed force to countless civilianvictims – and to arrive at peaceful solutions in compliance with internationallaw.We strongly condemn any violation of international law and human rights.Respect for international law and human rights, peace and democracy arefundamental principles that the BSPC has pursued since its founding31 years ago and has emphasised again and again.These are the foundations of our parliamentary cooperation – thefoundations the current Presidency as well as every future BSPC Presidencywill be based on.2 In our 30th Annual Conference we unanimously pointed out the urgent needof peaceful and close neighbourliness. We underlined again that democraticvalues, the rule of law and human rights are the foundation of ourcooperation.As long as these foundations are inva lidated by brutal armed force by theRussian Federation, which was initiated by parliamentary decisionsregarding Donetsk and Luhansk, we see no possibility of continuing ourparliamentary cooperation in the previous trusting manner due to theunanimous co ndemnation of the military attacks by all our memberparliaments that do not belong to the Russian Federation.