Flemish Parliament condemns annexation of Ukrainian territories

The Flemish Parliament passed a resolution on Wednesday condemning Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian territories. The Belgian regional parliament unanimously approved the condemnatory resolution.

The resolution condemns the annexation and sham referendums, which the petitioners say are a flagrant violation of international law. The parliament supports Ukraine's territorial integrity and denounces the disgrace to the Ukrainian people's right to self-determination.

The resolution was an initiative by governing party N-VA (Flemish nationalists), joined by CD&V (Flemish Christian democrats), Open VLD (Flemish liberals), Vooruit (Flemish socialists), and Groen (Flemish green party). Vlaams Belang (Flemish far-right party) and PVDA (far-left party) approved the text.

"Illegal annexation and sham referendums are cornerstones of the Russian doctrine of conquest, as we already saw in 2014 in Crimea or Donbas," said initiator Karl Vanlouwe. "With a gun to the face and after targeted Russification and popular movements, the Ukrainian people are being forced to speak out in a sham referendum. This is a hallucinating violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity, which should therefore never be recognised internationally."

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© BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK