EU-Russia Civil Society Forum - Stop the Threat of War!

The Steering Committee of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum expresses its strong protest against the decision made by the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation for approving entry of the Russian troops on the territory of the Ukraine, says a statement of EU-Russia Civil Society Forum.

There are no grounds for military intervention into the internal affairs of a sovereign state: there are no vicious and mass human rights violations or crimes against humanity, there are no violations of rights of the Russian citizens in the Ukraine. The threat of military intervention under the pretence of “protection of national interests” is fully inadmissible for a state which considers itself as democratic, observant of the rules of international law, and moreover, a member state of the UN Security Council. We are also deeply concerned over the information about the deployment of the Russian military representatives on the Crimea peninsula which already begun.

We call on the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to immediately revoke its decision on the entry of Russian troops into Ukraine. We call on the Russian government to abandon all its plans for intervention in Ukraine’s territory and to return Russian troops to their permanent stations.

We call on all Russian citizens not to succumb to military hysteria, not to support military intervention into a friendly country and to remember the grave consequences which might be caused by war for all peoples. Russia will definitely lose from this war, even though those officials giving orders may achieve their defined military goals.

We call on the Ukrainian government and its citizens not to respond by force to the threats of military intervention, not to react to provocations, not to provoke the other side and to take all possible efforts for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Among these steps should be measures which will ensure rights of the ethnic and language minorities, the achievement of an interethnic accord, and ensuring all fundamental human rights and freedoms.

All of the most difficult problems including issues of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, language policy, elections, etc. can be and shall be addressed in a peaceful and democratic way by the Ukrainians themselves without violence and intervention and interference from the outside.
 
We call on the citizens and civic organizations of both countries, as well as all other states in Europe to show solidarity and act together in order to avoid war which threats of the vast human and political losses.

We call on the international community – first of all, the Council of Europe, European Union, OSCE and the UN – to take extraordinary and efficient measures to ensure peace, integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Among these steps should be the immediate sending of high rank missions to monitor and act as mediators for the situation.
 
The Russian Federation, along with the United States and Great Britain, should fulfill its commitments on ensuring guarantees of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Ukraine under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances on the denuclearization of the Ukraine.
 
The world stands on the edge of a war which can bring new incalculable sufferings and undermine the entire system of the international security and international organizations. This possible tragic development should not be allowed to happen. The sliding towards war should be immediately stopped by joint efforts. We, the representatives of the civil organizations of Russia and the member states of the European Union, together with our Ukrainian colleagues, are ready to use the potential of our organizations and contribute to peace and restoration of good neighborly relations between our countries.

Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum welcomes and supports this statement.