The member of the Speaker of the Saeima welcomed the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Vladimir Putin of Russia and “children’s legal guardian” Maria Lvova-Belova for the deportation of Ukrainian children. “We must cooperate so that the children deported from Ukraine return to their homeland as soon as possible to their relatives,” emphasized Kalniņa-Lukaševica.
Russia has illegally removed and placed in institutions or given up for adoption more than 15,000 children from Ukraine, the politician noted.
“Latvia and Malta are like-minded countries, we are united by good bilateral relations and a common position on international order based on laws,” the press service of the parliament informed about Kalniņas-Lukaševicas’ statement.
Cooperation in international organizations is even more important at this time, when Russia has launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine, the politician emphasized.
The member of the Speaker of the Saeima positively assessed Malta’s achievements during its presidency of the UN Security Council and emphasized how important it is to keep issues of Russian aggression in Ukraine on the agenda of the Council. Kalniņa-Lukaševica noted that the next step would be to achieve international support for bringing Russia to justice for the crimes of aggression committed in Ukraine.
Along with maximum support for Ukraine in all possible ways, the European Union’s policy of sanctions against Russia and Belarus must also be continued, the politician said.
“Russia is currently the most serious and direct threat to European security, which has irreversibly changed the strategic security environment and caused serious geopolitical consequences in the long term,” noted the member of the Saeima Speaker.
By providing support to Ukraine, Europe has become a serious player in the field of security, and in order to strengthen security, we must continue to invest in our defense, said the politician.
In the conversation with the President of Malta, the member of the Saeima Speaker Jānis Grasbergs (NA), the Saeima Secretary Armands Krauze (ZZS) and the member of the Saeima Commission for European Affairs Uģis Rotbergs (JV) also participated in the conversation with the President of Malta.