Baltic and Ukrainian parliaments call for no-fly zone

Representing Latvia was Saeima speaker Ināra Mūrniece, who tweeted that despite the war, the democratic work of the Ukrainian parliament continues. 

After a series of meetings, a joint satement was issued, which is reproduced verbatim below.

We, the speakers of the parliaments of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, meeting in Kyiv a month after Russia launched a full scale war against Ukraine, affirm that We will combine our efforts to end the aggression and restore security in Europe.

To this end, our first priority is to support Ukraine in every way we can, and to raise the cost of the aggression for Russia. Russia’s aggression is directed against the democratic world order while Ukraine is fighting for our shared values.

We call on all democratic countries to support Ukraine in the fields of politics, defence, humanities, and economy to the best of their abilities. We stress the necessity to give Ukraine the EU candidate country status because Ukraine is unequivocally a member of the European family. We are and will be stronger together. We full-heartedly endorse the continuation of the NATO open-door policy.

As far as NATO membership is concerned, no one besides the members of the Alliance can have a say in the matter. Any country who meets the membership requirements is free to apply. We call International Community to immediately establish no-fly zone over Ukraine in order to prevent massive civilian casualties.

We call on the Countries to enlarge provision of all necessary weaponry Ukraine needs to win the war. We propose International Community to create full trade embargo against Russia. We need to continue isolating Russia politically from the international community. We invite Member States to suspend and terminate Russia’s membership in international organisations and bodies. In order to fight open lies and misleading information and aggressive propaganda spread by Russian officially controlled media, the democratic world has to find ways how to provide truthful information via all possible channels.

The war crimes of the Kremlin regime in Ukraine must not go unpunished. Those whose hands are tainted with the blood of peaceful residents, women, children, and the elderly must not be allowed to slip away. We invite Member States to support expeditious and thorough proceedings by the International Court of Justice and investigations by the International Criminal Court.

Looking ahead, we need to start thinking about the reconstruction of Ukraine now. We will advocate a comprehensive aid plan (aka Marshall Plan) for Ukraine's economic recovery. The events that are taking place in peaceful Ukrainian towns are horrific and must never be forgotten. We bow our heads in mourning of those who have fallen and feel deep sympathy with the victims of the war.

Slava Ukraini! Herojam slava!