• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

The President: Crimea must and will be returned to Ukraine

President of the Republic of Lithuania

August 24, 2022

On Tuesday, President Gitanas Nausėda participated remotely in the Second Summit of the Crimea Platform, a diplomatic initiative of Ukraine to draw the attention of the international community to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

In his address, the Lithuanian leader stressed that the international community must remain united and fully support the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine as Russia continues to commit atrocious war crimes in Ukraine.

According to the President, the diplomatic initiative of the Crimea Platform is particularly important in the current context, as it reminds us of the annexation of Crimea eight years ago and the consequences of international community's failure to act. The example of Crimea, according to the President, is an impetus to actively seek to prevent further Russian aggression.

"We see that Russia uses the peninsula as a base for new military offensives against Ukraine. The occupation must be brought to an end, Crimea must be returned to its rightful owner - Ukraine, oppression and persecution must stop, Ukrainians imprisoned under the occupation must be set free," President Gitanas Nausėda underlined.

Speaking at the Summit of the Crimea Platform, Gitanas Nausėda also stressed that the policy of appeasement is clearly not the right way out of the current situation. According to the President, the only solution is continued support for Ukraine and further isolation of Russia.

The Second Summit of the Crimea Platform was also attended by the Presidents of Poland, Croatia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Turkey, Moldova, Georgia, France, President of the European Council Charles Michel, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The participants of the Summit adopted a joint statement agreeing to continue to call on Russia to end its illegal occupation of Crimea and to return the territories to Ukraine. The statement also condemns Russia's unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine and calls on Russia to immediately cease its military actions in Ukraine and to withdraw its forces from all its territories, including Crimea.

The President's Communication Group