EU calls on Russia to stop ‘absurd' claims of victimhood in war against Ukraine

The European Union has called on Russia to stop its “absurd claims” about being the “victim” while waging war against another sovereign country.

“There is no doubt that this Russian aggression is illegal under international law,” the EU delegation said in a statement during an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe meeting in Vienna, as quoted by Ukrinform on Feb. 9.

The Russian delegation at the OSCE, as well as in other international forums, “must stop its absurd claims that it is a ‘victim’ on the territory of another sovereign state, and not vice versa,” the statement read.

The EU statement comes a few months after President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization to “find a way out of the brutal global crises created by Russia.” Zelensky criticized the OSCE’s insufficient efforts in trying to bring an end to Russia's war against Ukraine.

On Feb. 2, Ukraine's OSCE Ambassador Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk told AFP that Russia should be denied  participation in the organization’s parliamentary meetings, saying that it should be deprived of "an opportunity to make a big propagandistic show."

An Austrian foreign ministry spokeswoman told AFP that the country is “obliged under international law to grant entry” to all delegates of OSCE participating states.

Editorial: Stop using Russia’s propaganda language to talk about its war in Ukraine

The Kyiv Independent