Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Lithuania, Russia

Due to unanimous stance and concerted effort of Lithuania and other Baltic States the EU Explanation of Vote deplores Russia‘s attempts to raise issues which are far from being related to combating racism and puts emphasis on monopolising one-sided interpretation of history as the recent attempts to justify the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact indicate.

The EU statement also highlighted that illegal actions of Russia and its violations of international law in Ukraine under the pretext of fighting Nazism are unacceptable. The statement goes on to refute the myth of the so-called liberation of Europe after the Second World War. However, the EU has once again reiterated its commitment to comprehensive fight against racism and underlined its readiness to continue a constructive debate on this issue.

The Russian Federation has been repeatedly submitting the Resolution on Combating Glorification of Nazism and Other Contemporary Forms of Racism to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly annually since 2006. EU Member States traditionally abstained in the vote for the resolution. Third Committee of the General Assembly addresses human rights issues, humanitarian, social and cultural affairs.