The European Parliament’s political groups have until Friday 18 November to table a draft resolution to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, ahead of a plenary vote scheduled for Tuesday 22 November in Strasbourg.
The EPP group is committed to the issue and advocates the development of a “legal instrument” at EU level that would allow for specific sanctions to be imposed on the Russian Federation for acts of terrorism. The sanctions would target the state apparatus and factions within the current Russian government as well as Russian political, parliamentary, military and executive entities, according to a draft resolution obtained by EUROPE.
Christian Democrat MEPs are also calling for the inclusion of the authorities of the Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia, the Russian army, paramilitary groups such as Wagner, political parties such as Vladimir Putin’s United Russia and the Communist Party in the European Union’s list of sanctions against certain persons and entities in the fight against terrorism.
The EPP Group advocates as well for maximum isolation of Russia on the international scene with its banishment from the United Nations and organisations such as the WTO and the G20. Russian centres disseminating Kremlin propaganda around the world should also be closed.
See the EPP Group’s draft resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/42j
The ECR group, which initiated a plenary debate on the issue in October (see EUROPE 13046/7), is also at the forefront of this issue. It submitted its own draft text. More succinctly, it considers that the actions of the Russian Federation and its proxies should be described as terrorism. And it calls on the EU and its Member States to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism without delay.
“The adoption of the resolution would be an important message of support to the Ukrainian people and an important signal to the EU Member States to follow the example of the Baltic States”, said Charlie Weimers (ECR, Swedish), in a statement sent to EUROPE by e-mail.
The Renew Europe group is currently preparing its draft text under the leadership of the Lithuanian, Petras Auštrevičius.
The Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and Czech parliaments have already declared Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. In mid-October, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe did the same (see EUROPE 13042/4). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)