Latvia’s Saeima recognizes Russia as state sponsor of terrorism

The Parliament of the Republic of Latvia, Saeima, has officially recognized Russia’s brutal actions against civilians in Ukraine and other countries as terrorism and the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The relevant statement was made by Public Broadcasting of Latvia (LSM), an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

A total of 67 members of the Saeima voted in favor of the relevant document. The members of Latvia’s Social Democratic Party ‘Harmony’ [Saskaņa], which is considered to be pro-Russian, were present at the session but did not vote. Two independent members, Julija Stepanenko and Ļubova Švecova, also abstained from voting.

According to the Saeima, Russian troops deliberately attack civilians in Ukraine, using suffering and intimidation as an instrument in their attempts to demoralize the Ukrainian people and military, and immobilize the state in order to invade Ukraine. Latvian politicians stressed that Russia uses violence in order to achieve its political goals.

The Saeima strongly condemned Russia’s armed aggression and full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was committed with the support of the Belarusian ruling government. The Saeima urged the Euro-Atlantic Community and partners to promptly step up and implement comprehensive sanctions against Russia to prevent the ability of Russian forces to continue armed aggression in Ukraine.

In its official statement, the Saeima also emphasized that Russia had been providing military, financial and political support to separatism and violence against civilians in Donetsk Region, Luhansk Region and the occupied Crime since 2014.

The Saeima declared the Russian Federation a state sponsor of terrorism, as Russia had been providing support and financing to terrorist regimes and organizations for many years. In particular, Russia acted as the largest arms supplier for the Assad regime in Syria and is responsible for the poisoning of the Skripal family in the United Kingdom and the downing of the Malaysia Airlines aircraft in eastern Ukraine in July 2014, resulting in the death of 298 people.

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