Estonian World Council Statement on Russia's Escalation of Aggression against Ukraine
Russian president Putin’s order to “recognize” as independent and send “peacekeepers” into the Russian-occupied territories of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine is a serious violation of international law and an escalation of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
Putin’s February 21st televised address, in which he lamented the end of the Soviet Union indicates a full-out Russian invasion of Ukraine is increasingly likely. Putin referred to Ukraine’s independence as an historical accident and the 2014 pro-democracy revolution as a coup d’etat. By demanding the withdrawal of NATO troops from the Baltics and Eastern Europe, and denying Ukraine the right to self-determination, Putin is advocating for an unacceptable return to 1997 status in Europe and a dismantling of the NATO defensive security measures put into place since then.
Over the past two decades, Russia has occupied parts of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova and currently poses the greatest threat to European security since the end of the cold war. Hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers are now mobilized on the Russian border with Ukraine and in Belarus.
The Estonian World Council calls upon NATO, the European Union and its partners to stand unified in solidarity with Ukraine, increase military and economic assistance to Ukraine, shut down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and immediately implement severe sanctions against Russia. The future of a democratic, free Ukraine and Europe as a whole is at stake.
Aho Rebas
President, Estonian World Council
