Latvia urges EU to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism; 'Call a spade a spade'

After the United States House Representatives passed the legislation to officially designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism due to its alleged war crimes on civilians in Ukraine, Latvia, on July 30, urged the EU to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism in line with the measure taken by the US. In an interview with Politico on Sunday, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs said that the Russian attack has killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians and until recently at least 53 prisoners of war. And therefore, it may be appropriate to further isolate Russia on the world stage. 

“We see all the brutality of Russian forces, that actually resemble a lot of ISIS, who we have been always calling a terrorist organization,” Rinkēvičs told the outlet in an interview on Sunday. “Let’s call a spade a spade,” he said.

While Russia's defence ministry on Friday accused the Ukrainian military forces of firing a US-supplied long-range missile in the separatist-held territory that claimed the lives of the Ukrainian prisoners of war in captivity, Ukraine rejected the allegations. Ukraine's MoD iterated that it was Russia that deliberately shelled the prison facility in the eastern Donetsk region. 75 POWs have been critically injured in the missile attack.  

Moscow's MoD claimed that the Ukrainian forces had fired the rocket from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) that landed on the colony in the village of Yelenovka. It added that Russia has formally invited the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to investigate the incident, a claim that was refuted by the Red Cross in a tweet. 

'Russian society needs to feel it': Latvian minister 

On Sunday, the Latvian minister lambasted Russia's human rights abuses, stressing that Europe must boost efforts to isolate Russia and declare it a terrorist nation. “The only way to move forward is to strengthen the current strategy, which is support to Ukraine, send more military aid,” Rinkēvičs emphasised.

Furthermore, the Latvian minister urged the EU to scrap visa facilities for the Russians, as well as confiscate the Russian government assets. [Russian] society needs to feel it,” Rinkēvičs argued. He then appealed to the EU to take a stringent stand and declare Russia a terrorist state.

The US Congress, despite the Department of State's Secretary's disapproval, had tabled the bill to hold Moscow accountable for its war crimes and declare it a terrorist state. The measure was introduced days after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned Secretary of State Antony Blinken that if he did not label Russia as a terrorist nation for its actions during the military invasion of Ukraine, the US Congress would. If the bill passes both chambers of the House, it will put pressure on US president Joe Biden to sign it into law. This would imply that Russia will be added to the terrorist states designation list which already featured North Korea, Syria, Cuba and Iran.

Russian Federation "shall be deemed to have been determined to be a country the government of which has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism," the Republicans said in the bill.