NATO PA: Belarus is Russia’s co-aggressor in Ukraine war

May 22, BPN. The NATO Parliamentary Assembly has adopted a declaration that calls Belarus a co-aggressor of Russia in the war against Ukraine and urges punishment for “possible acts of genocide.”

The document, approved at the assembly’s spring session in Luxembourg, expresses determination to bring to justice “the Russian regime, its co-aggressors in the Belarusian regime and all other perpetrators” for crimes committed in Ukraine.

The declaration also welcomes the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is accused of illegally deporting Ukrainians from the occupied territories to Russia. It says this crime is “an act of genocide according to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”

The NATO lawmakers also voice concern about “the Belarusian regime’s growing support of Russia’s war of aggression,” including the use of Belarusian territory for training and logistics.

Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja presented a five-step plan for Belarus’ European future at the assembly’s political committee meeting yesterday. She also raised the issue of holding Belarusian leader Alaksandr Łukašenka accountable for the abduction of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories today, during a meeting with NATO PA President Joëlle Garriaud-Maylam.

The ICC in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Putin and his children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in March on suspicion of illegally deporting Ukrainian children to Russian territory. The Belarusian democratic forces are seeking a similar warrant against Łukašenka, who hosts children from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution in April calling on the international community to support the prosecution of Łukašenka, who claims to be president of Belarus, for the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children.