Mihkelson participates in the visit of six Foreign Affairs Committee Chairs to the USA

Mihkelson said that on Tuesday, the Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the parliaments of Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Ukraine would participate in the meeting of the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe to speak of their expectations for the NATO Summit to be held in Vilnius at the beginning of July. According to him, Estonia hopes the Summit will extend strong support for Ukraine, including the invitation to join NATO.

“In order to help Ukraine achieve a strategic victory over Russia, we must continue to raise the cost of aggression for Russia and hold personally accountable all those responsible for the crime of aggression against Ukraine,” Mihkelson said, adding that one of the issues of importance to Estonia at the Summit was the continued strengthening of deterrence and defence posture on NATO’s eastern flank and reaching an agreement to increase the defence spending of NATO countries.

Mihkelson said that he would also speak about the draft Statement on accountability for the crime of aggression against Ukraine that would be put to a final vote in the plenary of the Riigikogu this week. The draft Statement says that the crime of aggression is essentially a crime committed by the leadership of a country, and requests holding to account individually those involved in planning, preparation, launching and committing the crime of aggression against Ukraine. It also calls on raising the issue of establishing a special international tribunal at all meetings with the governments of other countries, in all international organisations where Estonia of is a member, and in all international forums where Estonia of participates.

On Monday and Tuesday, the Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees will meet with several senators and congressmen, and they also plan to have meetings at the Department of State and different think tanks.

From the United States, Mihkelson will travel to France, where he will participate in a seminar of the countries of NATO’s eastern flank at the French National Assembly on Thursday. The seminar will discuss support for Ukraine, and Europe’s new security architecture with delegates from Central and Eastern European countries.

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
karin.kangro@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: Mihkelson participates in the visit of six Foreign Affairs Committee Chairs to the USA

Source: Parliament of Estonia