Seimas delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly attended the annual session in Luxembourg

Press release, 8 July 2019 

The annual session of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) held in Luxembourg on 3–8 July 2019 turned out to be highly productive for the Lithuanian delegation. The session adopted a resolution on energy security in the OSCE region presented by Rūta Miliūtė, Member of the Seimas. In addition, thanks to its enormous and pooled efforts, the delegation managed to achieve another significant victory in countering Russia’s attempt to rewrite and monopolise the history of World War II and to discredit the statehood of the countries once affected by the Soviet occupation. The resolution under a politically correct title Combating xenophobia, aggressive nationalism and intolerance was clearly politically motivated and was directed against the Baltic and other countries, who call into question the role of the USSR in World War II in general, and its occupation policy, in particular.

The Russian representatives associate the national liberation movement in the Baltic States with the Nazi regime and the fight against the anti-Hitler coalition. By doing so, they conceal the true purpose and activities of the said movements. Moreover, they show footage from the events held at the Seimas, where the President of Lithuania congratulates partisans, winners of the Freedom Prize, yet portraying them as the Nazi collaborators. On all occasions, the aim is to discredit the national liberation movement in the Baltic countries, and slander it as glorification of Nazism. The aim of the resolution was to enforce the requirement to ensure that history curriculum at schools solely focuses on the damage caused by the ideology of Nazism and fascism, without mentioning the victims of the Stalinism, and recognize the destruction or relocation of Soviet monuments as an expression of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia.

Following the speech of Rūta Miliūtė on the victims of communism and mass deportations, the session participants were shocked by the reply by the representative of the Russian delegation to justify the deportations: “Yes, this is true, we acknowledge the historical fact. We were forced to deport some of the population, but not in the numbers you were referring to. Therefore, some of the collaborators supported the fascist regimes that were exterminating their fellow-citizens, and this is a fact.”

The Lithuanian delegation managed to induce the members of the Parliamentary Assembly to reject the resolution. The US, British and Ukrainian representatives supported the position of the Lithuanian delegation that the crimes of Nazism and Communism need to be treated equally. The resolution was rejected by 25 votes against and 15 abstentions.

Another victory achieved was the election of Laurynas Kasčiūnas to the position of the Rapporteur of the OSCE PA Committee on Political Affairs and Security. This is a very high position, which demonstrates an international recognition for the politician himself and for the country’s parliamentary diplomacy as such. The Rapporteur’s main task is to draft the annual report of the OSCE PA Committee on major security issues for the OSCE region as a whole. This will open an opportunity for Lithuania to influence the region’s security agenda. 

Pranešimą paskelbė: Lietuvos Respublikos Seimo kanceliarija
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2019-07-09 17:04
Politika, Krašto apsauga, saugumas
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