Ukrainian President Zelenskyy welcomes the designation, a transfer Washington has thus far resisted.
The European Parliament has declared Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism”, saying Moscow’s “deliberate assaults and atrocities” in Ukraine violate human rights and worldwide humanitarian legal guidelines.
European lawmakers handed the decision on Wednesday with 494 members voting in favour, 58 towards and 44 abstaining.
“The deliberate assaults and atrocities carried out by the Russian Federation towards the civilian inhabitants of Ukraine, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and different critical violations of human rights and worldwide humanitarian regulation quantity to acts of terror,” the decision mentioned.
EP Plenary has 🗳️voted and declared 🇷🇺 Russia a state sponsor of terrorism
🎥Watch & obtain the video of the vote: https://t.co/rtimidIhST pic.twitter.com/QGfwl6u9pt
— European Parliament Audiovisual Service (@europarlAV) November 23, 2022
Nonetheless, the transfer is essentially symbolic because the European Union has no authorized framework to again it up.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the vote, saying, “Russia should be remoted in any respect ranges and held accountable.”
Zelenskyy urged america and different nations to comply with swimsuit as he accused Moscow of concentrating on civilians, an allegation Russia denies.
I welcome @Europarl_EN determination to acknowledge Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and as a state which makes use of technique of terrorism. Russia should be remoted in any respect ranges and held accountable to be able to finish its long-standing coverage of terrorism in Ukraine and throughout the globe.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 23, 2022
The EU, US and United Kingdom have already imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia over its warfare in Ukraine.
However US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has thus far refused to put Russia on a “terrorism” record regardless of resolutions in each chambers of Congress urging him to take action.
At present, the US State Division considers Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria as “state sponsors of terrorism”, that means they’re topic to a defence export ban and monetary restrictions.
4 EU members – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland – have thus far designated Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, based on the European Parliamentary Analysis Service.