Last week the European Parliament (EP) declared Russia a state sponsoring terrorism. Approximately one hundred MEPs who voted against this initiative marked themselves as agents of Putin’s regime in Europe, according to TV3 programme Nekā personīgi.
Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland all declared Russia a sponsor of terrorism. With a large majority voting in favour the European Parliament approved the resolution on the 23rd of November that recognises Russia as a state sponsoring terrorism. The resolution was passed with 494 votes in favour, 58 votes against and 44 abstaining (there are a total of 705 members in the European Parliament). Authors of the resolution did not hide that their goal is having USA do the same thing.
In the US Congress the resolution was supported both the House of Representatives and the Senate. However, US President Joe Biden has yet to put Russia in the same group as other countries believed to be sponsoring terrorism – Syria, Iran, North Korea and Cuba.
The vote in the European Parliament was symbolic. It does not carry any legal consequences, Nekā personīgi programme reminds.
The European Union is unable to include entire countries to its list of terrorists. The European Parliament invites member states to unite and provide the legislative institution with such authority. But until then Europe will continue trying to isolate Russia using sanctions. The ninth package of sanctions is in the works.
Latvian MEP Roberts Zīle described the resolution as pressure on European governments. This would allow creation of more serious sanctions, such as prohibiting Russian media to use European satellites to broadcast programmes. He believes this would also help contribute to the organisation of a special tribunal to investigate Russia’s war crimes.
Nekā personīga stresses: other votes that took place in the European Parliament on the same day indicate that at least 30 MEPs were there but did not vote. These include, for example, all 12 representatives of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party.
Latvian MEP Sandra Kalniete’s name is not found among the MEPs who took part in the vote. She claims it was a mistake and that it is being resolved now. Nils Ušakovs from Harmony did not vote either, as he was attending a court hearing of his criminal case in Latvia at the time. He missed one court hearing this summer, justifying his absence with his duty to work in the parliament. The judge in charge of the case called it an insufficient reason to justify his absence.
Representative of Latvian Russians Union Tatyana Zhdanok was the only Baltic MEP that voted against the resolution. Estonian Centre Party’s politician Jana Tooma and Lithuanian populist party’s Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union populist party’s representative Stasys Jakeliūnas stand out with their decision to abstain in the vote.
In spring of 2022 Zhdanok was expelled from the Greens/EFA alliance because of her vote against the resolution condemning Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Only 13 MEPs acted in such a way back then. Four times more MEPs voted against Russia’s recognition as a state sponsoring terrorism this time.
Most of the MEPs that voted against the resolution come from different groups. Members of the right-wing radical Identity and Democracy and the leftist Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats split, and their minority voted in favour of Russia. Among communists and eurosceptics the members that voted in Russia’s favour are the majority.
17 members of the French National Rally voted against the resolution. The party’s leader Marin Le Pen never hid her ties with the Kremlin, as she previously met with Vladimir Putin and received a loan from a now liquidated Russian bank.
The loan has since been ceded to military industrial company Aviazapchast.
Latvian MEP Roberts Zīle comments: «But the question is why France still has not changed its laws. This would be completely unacceptable to see a political party in Latvia to legally borrow money from a bank of another country.»
Seven MEPs from the openly pro-Kremlin German party Alternative for Germany also voted against the resolution. Two German social democrats from Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party voted against the resolution as well. According to various media sources, these politicians accepted different benefits from Russia. In 2017, for example, representatives of Alternative for Germany, MEPs’ included, were provided with a paid private flight to Moscow.
These French and German politicians were also among those who travelled to Donbas and Crimea, where they observed elections. MEPs from Austria and Belgium performed the same function. Zhdanok, too, observed the referendum in Crimea. That same year Zhdanok’s founded Latvian Human Rights Committee received EUR 94 000 from a foundation under the Kremlin. The total amount this organisation received from Russia’s budget is more than EUR 400 000.
After the annexation of Crimea Le Pen’s National Rally received the aforementioned EUR 9.5 million loan from the Russian bank. Marin Le Pen herself received private loan of EUR 2.5 million from a company believed to be owned by a Russian spy, Nekā personīga reports.
Latvian MEP Inese Vaidere explains: «The number of people who support Russia is not up. They are more outlined, and they are afraid to show to their sponsors – I can be against your actions in Ukraine, no matter how horrible they may be.
I ask – what is your plan? They remain quiet – Orban’s Hungary is quiet, and so is Alternative for Germany. I cannot say I have spoken with all of them, but these are considerable groups of deputies, which is an indication of something. They have no plan [to end the war]. But they seem indebted to Russia for something – we can only guess what. This is why they are trying to suggest utopian solutions that do not work in practice.»