Written declaration No. 625 | Doc. 14257 | 26 January 2017

Terrorist activities in Ukraine

Signatories: Mr Georgii LOGVYNSKYI, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Boriana ÅBERG, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Volodymyr ARIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Boryslav BEREZA, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Eka BESELIA, Georgia, SOC ; Mr Tobias BILLSTRÖM, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Valeriu GHILETCHI, Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Mr Vladyslav GOLUB, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Oleksii GONCHARENKO, Ukraine, EC ; Mr Ihor HUZ, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Mariia IONOVA, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Giorgi KANDELAKI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Mr Serhii KIRAL, Ukraine, EC ; Mr Andrii LOPUSHANSKYI, Ukraine, ALDE ; Mr Andriy LOZOVOY, Ukraine, NR ; Mr Ján MAROSZ, Slovak Republic, EC ; Mr Killion MUNYAMA, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Paul SCULLY, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Serhiy SOBOLEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Olena SOTNYK, Ukraine, ALDE ; Ms Petra De SUTTER, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Kostiantyn USOV, Ukraine, NR ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Viktor VOVK, Ukraine, EC ; Mr Leonid YEMETS, Ukraine, EPP/CD

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

On 20 January 2017 in Kyiv, the Security Service of Ukraine prevented a terrorist act aiming to assassinate a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, Mr Anton Gerashchenko. Two suspects have been arrested.

The investigation has revealed that the suspects were recruited by the Russian secret service. The two men previously served a jail sentence in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and were released early by the occupation authorities in order to commit this crime.

The main motive was to murder a prominent Ukrainian statesman. Mr. Gerashchenko has co-authored the Myrotvorets International Terrorist Database and is well-known for his anti-Russian stance.

We are outraged by this hideous act. We express our solidarity with Mr. Gerashchenko, his family and all the Ukrainian people.

This terrorist activity reminds us of the KGB dirty methods during USSR times. We declare that any interference in the domestic affairs of democratic Ukraine is absolutely inadmissible.

We urge the governments of the Council of Europe Member States to exert pressure on Russia to make it stop financing and plotting terrorist activities in Ukraine and put an end to human rights violations.