Ana Gomes (S&D). - Mr President, provocative actions in Crimea are a violation of a bilateral agreement with Ukraine and a violation of the Budapest Agreement with all of the other P5 countries. The Crimea referendum amounts to Russian aggression and a challenge to the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Mr Putin is playing with fire, fuelling lies and bigotry about the Ukrainian revolution and resorting to the same bogus arguments that were used in the Sudetenland decades ago, with devastating consequences for Europe and the world.
The EU must stand by the people of Ukraine as well as the people of Russia, who are both victims of the irresponsible, vengeful hubris and, indeed, weakness of Vladimir Putin. We do not want war. To press for a diplomatic solution, we must demand that the Council immediately enacts the targeted sanctions against Ukrainian oligarchs and politicians involved in human rights violations and corruption, so that assets stolen are recovered by Ukraine. It must also enact similar asset-stripping measures and visa bans against the Russian leadership and the oligarchs responsible for this dangerous escalation. Support …