Yesterday in New York, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterrez stated that the announced process of annexation by the Kremlin of the temporarily occupied regions in Eastern and Southern Ukraine is a clear violation of the UN Charter.  

 

The United Nations General Assembly, in its Friendly Relations Declaration of 24 October 1970 – declared that “the territory of a State shall not be the object of acquisition by another State resulting from the threat or use of force” and that “no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal”.   

 

Any decision by the Kremlin to proceed with the annexation of the temporarily occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, has no legal value and must be condemned, as it was the case in 2014 on the occasion of the Russian invasion of Crimea.  

 

In line with the position of the United Nations and its Charter, PAM Presidency reiterates that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean is fully committed to the sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity of Ukraine. PAM equally joins the UN Secretary General in underscoring that the sham referenda in the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine were conducted during active armed conflict in areas under Russian military occupation, and outside Ukraine’s legal and constitutional framework, the only one recognized by the international community.   

 

PAM joins the UN and the world community to work together to end this devastating and senseless conflict resulting from Russia’s unprovoked, unjustifiable, and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, and uphold the UN Charter and International Law.  //