Poland’s Sejm designates Russia a state supporting terrorism

The Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament, on Wednesday adopted a resolution in which recognized Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.

“The Sejm of the Republic of Poland recognizes the Russian Federation as a state supporting terrorism and using terrorist means,” reads the text of the resolution.

The document states that Russia “systematically violates human rights, international law and the United Nations Charter and a number of other commitments,” “annexes territories of other countries, commits armed attacks, war crimes and genocides” and “engages hostile economic activities, in particular in the sphere of energy”.

According to the resolution, Russia is “directly responsible for the downing of the Malaysian Airlines flight (MH17) in July 2014, when 298 passengers and crew members were killed” and also for “the crash of the Polish Air Force flight (Flight 101) in Smolensk in April 2010, which killed 96 people on board, including the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, Polish government officials, senior Polish and NATO military commanders, and members of the Polish parliament.”

“The bestial and illegal aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine continues. The Russian military is carrying out attacks throughout the territory of the invaded country, in which thousands of people, including many children, have died. The Russian Federation and its armed structures and formations commit acts of terror against civilian infrastructure, mass executions and abductions, sexual violence and torture, tearing children away from their families in order to subject them to Russification, mass deportations of the population, forced conscription of Ukrainian citizens to Russian armed forces and theft of property. Russia repeatedly violates the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War,” the lawmakers wrote in the resolution.

The Sejm also stated that the Russian Federation committed an act of international piracy by forcefully “blocking Ukrainian ports and paralyzing sea communication on routes leading to them without declaring war.” “By burning and plundering Ukrainian lands and preventing Ukraine from exporting agricultural produce for a long time, it brought the specter of famine to many African and Asian countries,” the document points out.

The MPs called on the Council of Ministers to continue and expand actions aimed at imposing further packages of sanctions on Russia and people supporting Putin’s regime, as well as further support for Ukraine in the fight against the aggressor. The Sejm also called on the international community to develop a mechanism for the payment of war reparations to Ukraine and compensation to states, organizations and individuals who suffered losses in connection with the war.