The European Parliament condemns in the strongest possible terms the Lukashenka regime’s involvement in Russia’s unjustified, illegal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine and its promotion of hate speech, disinformation and propaganda echoing Moscow’s bellicose rhetoric.
This is stated in the European Parliament's resolution.
The European Parliament also condemns the Lukashenko regime's massive provision of ammunition and military hardware to the Russian aggressors, particularly the manufacture of components for the Russian military, as well as the stationing of Russian troops in Belarus and their training by Belarusian instructors, the welcoming of Russia’s illegal and state-sponsored terrorist organisation the Wagner Group.
The European Parliament condemns the threat to join the aggression, combined with the stationing of troops next to the Belarus-Ukraine border, which binds Ukrainian troops there, and the use of Belarusian territory, airspace and infrastructure as a staging ground to launch the invasion, as well as for continued missile attacks on military and civilian targets in Ukraine.
European MPs note that the vast majority of Belarusians disapprove of this multifaceted involvement in Russia’s war of aggression. Also, they express its full support for the Belarusian activists who are resisting the aggressors within Belarus by disturbing railways and other supply lines used by the Russian military, for Belarusian cyber-partisans and for the volunteers, in particular the Kastuś Kalinouski and former Pahonia regiments, who are bravely fighting alongside the armed forces of Ukraine to repel the aggressors.
The European Parliament condemns the illegal transfer of more than 2,150 children, including orphans, from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to so-called recreational camps in Belarus, where they are subjected to Russification and indoctrination.
In addition, the MEPs support Ukrainian prosecutors’ investigation into the role of Belarus in the forced deportations and considers that the actions of Lukashenka himself and his regime may also amount to the crime against humanity of “deportation or forcible transfer of population."
The European Parliament considers Lukashenka as responsible for these war crimes as Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, and therefore calls on the ICC to consider issuing a similar international warrant for Lukashenka’s arrest.
The European Parliament also calls to expand the list of individuals targeted by the EU’s sanctions to include those involved in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus.
"By enabling Russia’s unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine, the Lukashenka regime has become an accomplice in the crimes committed by Russia, which implies responsibility for the destruction and damage caused to Ukraine," the resolution says.
It also states that a special international tribunal on the crime of aggression perpetrated by Russia against Ukraine must have jurisdiction to investigate not only Putin and the Russian political and military leadership, but also the Belarusian leadership.
Separately, the resolution urges the International Olympic Committee and other international sports federations not to allow athletes from Belarus and Russia, many of whom support or have even participated in Russia’s unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine, to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games or any other international sports events.
MEPs also emphasise the need to maintain and increase sanctions against Belarus, including Belaruskali.
On 17 March, the Pre-Trial Division of the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova.
The International Center for the Investigation of the Crime of Aggression (ICPA) was opening in The Hague (Netherlands). This is the first step towards a tribunal for the Russian military and political elite.
Prosecutors from Ukraine, the European Union, the United States, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) will work at the Center. They will investigate and collect evidence as an interim step before a special tribunal is established to hold Kremlin officials accountable for starting the war in Ukraine.