Top Three Constitutional Officials Condemn Efforts to Annex Parts of Ukraine
Bratislava, September 30 (TASR) – President Zuzana Caputova, Parliamentary Chair Boris Kollar (We Are Family) and Premier Eduard Heger (OLaNO) issued a joint statement on Friday in which they strongly condemned Russia’s efforts to illegally annex parts of Ukraine’s territory.
According to them, the results of the pseudo-referendums organised by Russia in occupied territory have no valid legal effects and are an illegitimate attempt by Russia to cover up an act of aggression.
“We strongly condemn Russia’s efforts to illegally annex additional parts of Ukraine’s territory. These regions have been forcibly taken from Ukraine by Russia’s military aggression, which has so grossly violated the UN Charter and all basic principles of international law and caused enormous human and material damage. Pseudo-referendums organised in occupied territory are just an illegitimate attempt to cover up an act of aggression and cannot be accepted,” reads the joint statement.
“In this way, Moscow is undermining efforts to achieve peace, deliberately escalating the situation and striving to intimidate and discourage the international community from further supporting Ukraine in its just defensive struggle,” stated the top constitutional officials. If Slovakia accepted such steps by Russia, it would deny the basic principles on which “our own sovereignty and territorial integrity” are based, they added.
The three officials stressed that Slovakia recognises Ukraine as an independent and sovereign country, “which is an EU-membership candidate and whose territorial integrity within internationally recognised borders cannot be questioned”.
