- Support Ukraine in its defence operations with military aid – including arms, ammunition, equipment, intelligence and cyber security support – humanitarian aid and financial aid.
- Exclude Russia from the SWIFT payment system, barring Russian companies from the international financial market and prohibiting the purchase of Russian sovereign debt on the primary and secondary markets.
- Strengthen support, financial and otherwise, for independent media and civil society in Ukraine. Make their voices heard across the EU and at the highest levels of debate. Implement substantive measures that ensure the safety of leaders and activists of civil society organisations in Ukraine who are courageously tending to the needs of affected civilians.
- Expand personal sanctions on Duma members and Russian oligarchs, including their families and consider the confiscation of property belonging to these individuals. Continue to ensure the freezing of their financial and physical assets in Europe, precluding them from travelling, buying property or sending their children to schools anywhere in the EU in the near future, in full coordination with the US, the UK and other allies and international partners in a united front.
- Expand restrictive measures such as import and export bans in strategic sectors which are key to Russia and the Russian economy, such as technology and the digital market, but also in economic areas with close financial ties to intelligence services and the military. To monitor and make sure these sanctions are respected by European businesses.
Looking ahead, we call on the European Union and its member states to:
- Agree on a conditional list of sanctions that can be triggered immediately in response to further escalation of the conflict. Such sanctions should be triggered immediately if other red lines are crossed, to ensure that sanctions can yield their full potential to signal and coerce.
- Coordinate with partners and allies to adopt measures aimed at eliminating dependency on Russian gas, accelerating diversification, increasing minimum gas storage requirements, and enhancing energy efficiency.
- Complete the termination of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
- Support the diversification of critical supplies for industries where Russia has a monopoly on such supplies.
Furthermore, we urge the European Union to provide Ukraine with a clear European perspective and to formulate and publish a comprehensive roadmap for Ukraine’s membership of the European Union. Clearly defined European integration is necessary for Ukraine to fight the aggressor.
We call on the Eastern Partnership countries, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova, to condemn this Russian aggression. We call on them not to recognise the so-called independence of the Russian-occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk.
We deplore the use of the Republic of Belarus as a staging ground for the invasion of Ukraine and condemn the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka, which is complicit with the decision of the Russian President.
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Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders must be preserved.
We continue to stand united in full solidarity with Ukraine and its people.
Read the full statement here. (Our website is currently offline. While we wait for the connection to be restored, please consult our statement in the attached PDF).
Secretariat of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum