Prague, Oct 19 (CTK) – The Senate called on Wednesday on the Czech government to use all means strengthening the effort to reach a permanent ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine, where the number of armed clashes increased, and the talks on a peaceful solution to the conflict.
The Senate, the upper house of Czech parliament, at the same time, called Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, part of Ukraine.
The resolution was prepared by the Senate European affairs and foreign, defence and security committees.
Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek (Social Democrats, CSSD), who was present in the Senate, refused to comment on the upper house’s resolution that was supported by 45 out of the 63 senators present.
“Crimea is still part of Ukraine. Its separation from this country is the result of a Russian aggression and has no support in international law,” the resolution says.
In the document, the Senate pointed to the intensified armed clashes in Eastern Ukraine, with heavy arms being used though the Minsk agreements bans it.
A permanent ceasefire must be established in order to calm down the situation and fulfil the Minsk agreements, Russia must terminate its support for rebels and enable the Ukrainian state bodies to jointly control the Ukrainian-Russian border.
The fights in Eastern Ukraine between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists, allegedly supported by Moscow, burst out in April 2014. Since then, they have claimed 9640 lives and more than 22,000 have been injured, according to the U.N. data. Some 1.7 million people have lost their homes due to the conflict.
The peace process agreed in Minsk has not yet helped settle down the dispute between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists. Ceasefire in the East has been violated from time to time.
Kiev accused separatists of the peace process failure, while Moscow puts the blame on Ukraine.
The French, Russian, German and Ukrainian leaders met to debate the situation on Wednesday.
