Polish Sejm fails to vote to declare Russia state sponsor of terrorism
Flag of Poland (Photo:kaboompics / pixabay)
The Sejm of the Republic of Poland, the country’s parliament, has failed topass a resolution declaring Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, Polish news agency PAP reported on Dec. 2.
The vote was cancelled after an amendment submitted by the ruling party was blocked by the opposition.
During the evening discussion that preceded the vote, parliament factions and groups unanimously supported the resolution. However, debates arose after the later submission of an amendment on the death of Polish President Lech Kaczyński.
“The Russian Federation bears direct responsibility for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Flight (Flight MH17) in July 2014, when 298 passengers and crew members died, as well as for the crash of the Polish Air Force Flight (Flight 101) in Smolensk (Russia) in April 2010, which killed 96 people on board, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński, Polish officials, high-ranking military officials and military commanders of NATO member states, as well as members of the Polish parliament,” the amended resolution reads.
Prior to the vote, the opposition asked for a break due to the submission of the amendment, but the request was rejected. Speaker of the Foreign Affairs Committee Paweł Kowal from the opposition Civic Platform said it was “destroying the compromise.”
After the vote failed, the opposition demanded that the resolution be considered without the new amendment. Shouts were heard from their stands: “Russian agents!” As a result, the parliament speaker called the situation a scandal and moved on to the next vote.
It is not yet known when the Sejm will continue considering the resolution.
On Nov. 23, the European Parliament declared Russia to be a state sponsor of terrorism and called for its international isolation.
On Oct. 13, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution supporting Ukraine and recognizing the Russian regime as terrorist.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly on Nov. 21 passed a resolution declaring Russia to be a “terrorist state” and calling for the creation of a Special International Tribunal to investigate its crimes.
The resolution, which was put forward by the Ukrainian delegation and passed unanimously, considered other wishes of Ukraine, including:
- an increase in arms supplies to Ukraine;
- the development of specific steps regarding Ukraine’s accession to NATO;
- the creation of a mechanism for collecting reparations from Russia for damage caused to Ukraine.
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