These days when we remember the crimes committed by the Soviet regime against Crimean Tatars. Considering the present circumstances, this is a particularly sad day, since the people native to Crimea have lost their homeland again and are persecuted. The Parliament of Latvia has recognised the deportations of Crimean Tatars as genocide. Like before, Latvia will continue to pursue a policy of non‑recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea to keep this issue on the current international agenda, stressed Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, in a meeting with Crimean Tatars in capital Kiev during an official visit to Ukraine.
On 18 May, which marks the 77th anniversary of the deportations of Crimean Tatars, the Crimean Tatar flag was raised at the Latvian embassy in Kiev to honour the memory of the victims. Refat Chubarov, the political leader of Crimean Tatars, emphasised that immediate action is necessary, because Crimean Tatars, small in numbers and without their own land, are at risk of extinction.
In Kiev, Mūrniece also met with film director Oleg Sentsov, who had been released from prison in Russia, and other representatives of the “Release of Prisoners” platform dedicated to the liberation of political prisoners. All participants of the meeting agreed—the international community must not forget that, because of their beliefs, many patriots of Ukraine are imprisoned in Ukrainian territories under Russia’s control, and demands should be made to release them as soon as possible. The representatives of the platform urged that the issue should be raised at the international level to pressurise Russia.
The Saeima delegation also laid flowers at the Memorial to the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, dedicated to the memory of protesters killed during the Euromaidan.
The Speaker of the Saeima unveiled a commemorative plaque in Kiev in honour of Latvian agronomist Indriķis Kohs, founder of the Agricultural Library of Ukraine, and visited the Latvia Square created in the capital of Ukraine.
Juris Rancāns, Chair of the Defence, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee, and Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš, Deputy Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, are also on an official visit to Ukraine together with the Speaker.
On 19 May, the Saeima delegation will visit the war‑affected region of eastern Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian soldiers and local people.
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Saeima Press Service