LUkraine Urges Luxembourg Government to Recognise Russia as State Supporting Terrorism

LUkraine has recently addressed an open letter to the Luxembourg Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Fernand Etgen, and the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn, urging them to recognise Russia as a state supporting terrorism.

This letter followed the collapse of the Ukrainian Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which has resulted in a flood, causing far-reaching consequences, the most immediately obvious being the environmental concerns, the material losses and a humanitarian crisis requiring the evacuation of thousands. This catastrophe has caused drinking water supply issues for two million people and a potential nuclear disaster.

The cause of the breach in the dam has not yet been confirmed, with both Ukraine and Russia blaming each other. It is understood that Russia did mine the dam after territorial gains in the region.

The President of LUkraine, Nicolas Zharov, had initiated a petition in the past to urge the authorities of Luxembourg to grant Russia the status of a "state sponsor of terrorism," which was rejected by Minister Asselborn, providing the explanation that "designating a permanent member of the Security Council as such, which would be difficult to reverse, would be unprecedented, and the consequences thereof are hard to foresee. Contrary to the petition's implications, such designation is not required to establish a special criminal tribunal to investigate and judge Russia's act of aggression against Ukraine."

According to the open letter, recognising Russia as a state supporting terrorism would lead to strengthened sanctions, diplomatic and economic isolation of Russia, the possibility of bringing the Russian Federation to justice in other countries' courts and the establishment of special tribunals to investigate its crimes. Due to the fact that several countries (such as Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands) have already recognised the Russian Federation as a sponsor of terrorism and because the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have reportedly expressed similar sentiments, LUkraine has renewed its appeal.

In November 2022, the European Parliament accepted a resolution on the designation of the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Because the EU currently cannot officially designate states as sponsors of terrorism, the European Parliament called on EU Member States and the EU to put in place the legal framework and consider adding Russia to such a list. This would trigger a number of momentous restrictive measures against Moscow and have profoundly limiting implications for EU relations with Russia.

Meanwhile, LUkraine Asbl is raising money for the emergency response to help the victims of the catastrophe in Nova Kakhovka during their ongoing Ukrainian culture festival UA Days in Luxembourg. To support the fundraising campaign, one can make donations during the event and on the website www.ukrainians.lu.

The open letter can be found on LUkraine's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ukraine.lu/posts/pfbid025BigNisT5arjfNKQF5sNNvLg9JRcQXHod1UAaovtCaaokcuTsUbYygTgXe1rdS3pl