russia’s military aggression against Ukraine began in 2014, not 2022: PACE recognized this fact
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe approved the report and resolution entitled "Sexual violence in times of conflict," devoted, among other things, to the issue of russia's aggression against Ukraine.
This was reported by the correspondent of European Pravda from Strasbourg.
It should be noted that the document, prepared by the Austrian deputy Petra Bair, contained only incidental references to russia's aggression. However, it was significantly changed with the help of amendments submitted by Ukrainian deputies and parliamentarians from partner states.
Among the amendments submitted to the document, amendment 4, which changed the description of the situation in Europe, caused the greatest controversy.
Instead of the blurred and factually incorrect phrase "in 2022, the war returned to our continent", the deputies proposed to write:
"Since February 2014, the russian federation has been waging an aggressive war against Ukraine, which it renewed on February 24, 2022, with a massive invasion of Ukraine."
The speaker and the profile committee on equality spoke against it.
Petra Bair and a number of deputies insisted that "armed aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine began in 2022."
However, Ukrainian parliamentarians managed to convince the deputies of the opposite.
"I personally know women who became victims of violence during the russian occupation of Crimea, and then — the attack on Donetsk and Luhansk regions," Yevheniya Kravchuk argued to PACE members during the discussion.
After that, the amendment was approved by a small margin: 47 for, 43 against.
As a result, the resolution with this norm was approved unanimously: 126 deputies voted for it.
Olena Khomenko, a deputy from "Servant of the People," representative of the committee on foreign policy and interparliamentary cooperation, was elected vice-president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Two more representatives of Ukraine received the positions of heads of committees.
We will remind that in October 2022, the PACE approved a resolution in which russia is designated a terrorist regime.
