Estonian parlt speaker to attend Crimea Platform parliamentary summit in Croatia

TALLINN - President of the Estonian parliament Juri Ratas is to participate on Tuesday in the First Parliamentary Summit of the International Crimea Platform, held in Zagreb, Croatia, where supporting Ukraine in Russia's ongoing war of aggression will be discussed.

Ratas said that the summit would provide an opportunity to reaffirm that the Western world stood united and firmly with Ukraine.

"We must offer Ukraine all the support it needs to win the war and restore its territorial integrity, including increased military and humanitarian aid, and help Ukraine in post-war reconstruction. At the same time, we need to step up pressure on Russia through sanctions so that the price of aggression would be even higher. It is also our common responsibility to bring those guilty of the crime of aggression to justice, by creating an international special tribunal," he said.

The summit is organised by Croatia and Ukraine. It will be opened by Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Gordan Jandrokovic, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk and Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the summit by video.

At the plenary session, the representatives of parliaments will discuss the situation in Crimea, focusing on sanctions, ensuring of freedom of navigation, situation of human rights and the economic and environmental impacts of the temporary Russian occupation. Supporting of Ukraine and increasing international pressure on Russia will be spoken about at the summit on a wider scale, with the aim of restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The participants of the summit also plan to adopt a joint statement.

During the summit, Ratas plans to have a meeting with the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, as well as with President of the Parliament of Moldova Igor Grosu and Marshal of the Sejm of Poland Elzbieta Witek.