EU must support Russian and Ukrainian civil society - Hoofdinhoud
ALDE MEPs Pavel Telička and Hans van Baalen held a meeting, today, with civil society representatives and NGOs from Russia and Ukraine to discuss the current situation in Ukraine, the relations between Kiev and the European Union, in the context of growing tensions in the region and the EU sanctions towards Russia.
The NGOs representatives reported systemic violation of human rights in Eastern Ukraine and the need of more sustainable and structural reforms in Kiev.
They also mentioned the situation in Russia and the political repression in the country, comparing it with the Brejnev era and asked for more targeted sanctions against the regime.
MEP Hans van Baalen (VVD, The Netherlands), ALDE spokesman on Russia and Ukraine, strongly supports the work of Russian and Ukrainian NGO´s:
"NGO´s on both the Ukrainian and Russian side play a crucial role in defending human rights and democracy and fighting corruption. The EU must reach out to civil society in both countries and should publicly defend individual human rights activists who are being persecuted by the Russian authorities."
ALDE Group Vice-President, Pavel Telička (ANO, Czech Republic) insisted on the need to strengthen cooperation between the EU and civil society in Ukraine and Russia:
"Europe is in a conflict with Putin's policy, not with the Russian people, it's citizens, researchers, entrepreneurs or students. The EU must make progress on a package of measures to strengthen the cooperation between the EU and Russian students, SMEs and researchers."