European lawmakers vote unanimously to declare Russia a 'terrorist regime'

In an almost unanimous vote, European lawmakers have backed a resolution which argues that Russia should be labeled a "terrorist regime". The vote was held in an assembly of representatives, named Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), where lawmakers from 46 national parliaments across  Europe participated. Out of the 100 lawmakers in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 99 voted in favour of the resolution. 

The only lawmaker who did not vote for the resolution was a Turkish MP from the Republican People’s Party, as per reports from CNN. “The continued use of long-range artillery by the Russian military to hit towns and cities across Ukraine has caused massive destruction and death,” the resolution states. “With these indiscriminate attacks, Russia aims to advance its terrorist policy to suppress the will of Ukrainians to resist and defend their country and provoke maximum harm to civilians." 

What is PACE?

The resolution says that Russia needs to “completely and unconditionally withdraw its occupying forces". Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is a parliamentary body of the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe is an international organisation which is separate from the European Union. PACE constitutes lawmakers drawn from national parliaments of member nations. Members of the Council of Europe also include countries like the United Kingdom, Turkey and Ukraine, who are not members of the European Union. 

Ukraine welcomes the resolution 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the vote. “Today, we see the historically important results of dialogue in Europe, between Europeans. We see actions that have made Europe unprecedentedly stronger. Never yet in history was Europe as strong as it is today. So, focus on everything that is needed to prevent the Russian terrorists from destroying our lives. This is the power of dialogue,” he said. “We are isolating Russia. Together we are punishing it for the terror and making it feel the price of the war it has unleashed. Thanks to our dialogue we have very important programmes of support for Ukraine. Defence programmes, financial support, programmes to support Ukrainians, the ones who had to flee their homeland to save themselves from hostilities,” he added.