At the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, 494 deputies voted in favor of the resolution, in which Russia was described as “a state that supports terrorism and a state that uses terror tools”, with 58 deputies against and 44 abstaining.
In the November 21 draft resolution, sponsors accuse Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, the bombing of the country’s energy infrastructure, the humanitarian crisis in Mariupol, the global food crisis and the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. Support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and the decision in the MH17 case are also mentioned.
Although the decision does not have direct legal consequences for the European Union, it reflects the opinion of the majority of the deputies. Currently, the EU does not have a legal framework for adding countries to the list of states that support terrorism. At the same time, a regime has been in place since 2016 that allows individuals and organizations to be placed on sanctions lists for supporting terrorism, now there are 13 individuals and four organizations including ISIS (the organization is banned in Russia)) and Al Qaeda (the organization is banned in Russia).
Among other things, the project calls on EU member states to develop a legal framework for designating states as sponsors of terrorism and using terrorist instruments. According to the draft text, this would “entail a number of important restrictive measures against these countries and would have severely restrictive consequences for the EU’s relations with these countries.” Russia should then be included in the created list. EU partners are invited to take similar measures.
Direct sanctions
MEPs have agreed to complete work on the 9th package of sanctions as soon as possible and to “immediately and fully impose an embargo on Russian fossil fuels and uranium imports from the EU, as well as abandoning Nord Stream 1 altogether and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. “
In addition, the European Parliament called on the European Council to “expand the list of persons subject to sanctions”. The European Commission is recommended to “make a proposal to replace the current EU global sanctions regime in the field of human rights, expand its scope to include acts of corruption, and immediately adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible for high-level corruption in Europe”. Russia and Belarus and their partners and beneficiaries in the EU”.
It is suggested that states apply secondary sanctions to help Russia circumvent European restrictions.
Other paramilitary formations, including the Wagner group, the 141st Special Motor Regiment named after AA Kadyrov, and militia and volunteer detachments are also proposed to be included in the sanctions list.
In the international arena, it is proposed to establish the isolation of the Russian Federation by reducing diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation, refusing to hold international events in the Russian Federation and depriving the country of membership in the UN Security Council. In addition, Russian cultural and scientific centers and diaspora organizations should be closed for “promoting Russian state propaganda around the world”.
“Russia does not comply with the legal framework”
Andrey Klimov, head of the Federation Council’s commission for the protection of state sovereignty of the Russian Federation, said in an interview with socialbites.ca that the European Parliament continues to “imitate violent anti-Russian activities”.
“I see this as an imitation of violent anti-Russian activities. They have it, and it’s actually anti-Russian of course. But in the same place everything is actually controlled by the secretariat, which is completely under the control of US lobbyists.
And all the rest are afraid to open their mouths to bring at least a milligram of logic. Therefore, there is nothing surprising here. Tomorrow they’ll offer to send us somewhere on Mars or something like that. Of course, it has no legal significance,” he said.
The senator called such “senseless and anti-Russian actions” the “suffering” of the European Parliament. “For example, they made a decision there last September to effectively ban the Russian world. Well, how can you comment on that?! “Senseless acts that are essentially anti-Russian,” said Klimov.
Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also proposed to “recognize the European Parliament as the sponsor of stupidity”.
Previously, the parliaments of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia and the lower house of the Czech Republic’s highest legislature have taken similar decisions.
On November 22, US Ambassador to International Criminal Justice Beth Van Shack said that under US law, Russia does not meet the definition of a state that supports terrorism.
“We can recognize states as sponsors of terrorism – for example, Syria was considered as such a while ago. However, our legislation gives a slightly different definition than in Europe. Wang Shack said that Russia does not fit the definition of a state that supports terrorism.