During her working visit to Iceland, the Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk, together with the MP Mariia Ionova, met with the Speaker of the Icelandic Parliament Althing Birgir Armannsson.
The Vice-Speaker thanked Iceland for its political, legal and humanitarian support and assistance to Ukraine, emphasizing that “Iceland is our important ally in international organizations such as: UN, Council of Europe, OSCE and NATO”.
According to her, this is especially true when it comes to the issue of fair punishment for russia’s crimes against Ukraine. As Olena Kondratiuk reminded, Iceland joined the main group of states that support the creation of an international special tribunal to investigate the crime of aggression against Ukraine and signed a joint statement of the Ukraine-Northern Europe Summit on the establishment of the International Center for the Investigation of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICIC) in The Hague.
“Iceland, although far from Ukraine, has hospitably sheltered more than 3,000 Ukrainians who fled the russian invasion,” the Vice Speaker noted.
“It is extremely important for Iceland to support Ukraine, and we will do so in all pressing issues. We have done everything possible to receive Ukrainians at the proper level and meet their needs,” said Birgir Armannsson, the Speaker of the Icelandic Parliament.
Olena Kondratiuk expressed her gratitude to Iceland for supporting the creation of the Register of Reparations, which will be presented at the Council of Europe Summit on May 16-17 in Reykjavik.
“This is the legal basis for using the frozen assets of the russian federation for the reconstruction of Ukraine. We are counting on Iceland’s active position in further promoting President Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s Peace Formula in the international arena,” the Vice Speaker called.
On behalf of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Olena Kondratiuk also thanked Althing for the recent adoption of a historic resolution on the official recognition of the Holodomor of 1932-33 as genocide of the Ukrainian people.
“As the Vice Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, I appealed to Mr. Speaker of the Parliament of Iceland to consider a resolution condemning the mass abduction of Ukrainian children by russia and joining the international coalition to bring them home,” said the Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.