By Euronews
A priest blesses the remains of three people who died during the Russian occupation and were disinterred from temporary burial sites in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv. - Copyright Credit: AP
Lithuania's parliament
has unanimously voted to recognise the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an act of
"genocide".
All 128 lawmakers in the
Seimas approved the resolution on Tuesday, which also labels Russia a terrorist
state.
"The Seimas
unanimously adopted a resolution by which the Lithuanian Parliament recognised
the war waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine as genocide of the
Ukrainian people," a statement read.
"The Seimas states
that the Russian Federation, whose military forces deliberately and
systematically target civilian targets for bombing, is a state that supports
and commits terrorism."
Lawmakers referred to
specific allegations of Russian war crimes in Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol,
Borodyanka, and Hostomel.
Russia has denied the
allegations of war crimes, labelling the images of dead civilians in Bucha
"a dangerous and serious provocation".
'Autocratic state'
The Lithuanian resolution
had been proposed by a number of MPs, including the parliament's Deputy
Speaker, Paulius Saudargas.
"Since the time of
the Tsars, Russia has been a basically autocratic state, and Putin is
continuing the work of Stalin," he told lawmakers.
"The genocide began
even then, and Putin's Russia is simply the reincarnation of Stalinist Russia -
the Soviet Union".
Lithuania has called on
NATO, the UN, the EU and other international bodies to also recognise the war
in Ukraine as genocide and to hold Russia accountable for war crimes.
MPs have also called for
a special International Criminal Court to be set to investigate the invasion of
Ukraine.
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