UCC calls on Canada to designate Russia a terrorist state

New Pathway – Ukrainian News

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) has called on the Government of Canada to designate the Russian Federation as a state supporter of terrorism, expel the Russian ambassador and diplomats from Canada, and suspend the issuance of travel visas to citizens of the Russian Federation.

“Russia is a terrorist state waging a genocidal war on Ukraine. Russia threatens the world with nuclear disaster – shelling the largest nuclear power plant in Europe near Zaporizhzhia,” stated Alexandra Chyczij, National President of the UCC.

“In its war against Ukraine, Russia is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on a scale not seen in Europe since WWII. Russia is a criminal, terrorist state that must be isolated completely from the international community and Canada’s government should follow the example of our European allies.”

The UCC wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in May 2022, urging the Government to designate the Russian Federation as a state supporter of terrorism.

On August 11, the Saeima, Latvia’s Parliament, declared the Russian Federation a state sponsor of terror and called on like-minded countries to take the same view.

At the end of July, the US Senate adopted a unanimous resolution calling on the Secretary of State to designate the Russian Federation a state supporter of terrorism. American legislators have made clear that should the Executive branch fail to act, Congress will designate Russia a terrorist state through legislation.

The UCC said that Russia’s threat to Canada’s national security has only increased since February 24, 2022 and called upon the Government of Canada to take steps to mitigate that risk.Canada should also accede to the Ukrainian government’s request that Western countries ban all Russian travelers, said UCC.

On August 8, President Zelenskyy told the Washington Post that “the most important sanctions are to close the borders — because the Russians are taking away someone else’s land.”

Several states of the European Union – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland – have suspended, restricted, limited or otherwise tightened the issuance of travel visas to citizens of the Russian Federation and are seeking to implement Schengen-wide measures.

Estonia, for example, will no longer issue temporary residence permits or study visas to Russians. The Foreign Minister of Estonia, Urmas Reinsalu, stated recently, “We cannot act as if there is no genocidal war in some areas of life. They are citizens of a country fighting a genocidal war. In this situation, Estonia plans to also encourage the European Union to impose such restrictions. The sanctions should affect the whole of Russian society.”

UCC has called on Canadians to send their Members of Parliament emails or call their constituency office and urge Canada to designate the Russian Federation a state supporter of terrorism. MPs emails are [email protected]

MPs can be found by postal code here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en

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