MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev has said the Russian special military operation in Ukraine can’t be qualified as a sponsorship of terrorism, so the decision by the Dutch parliament to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism is legally flawed.
"Following a resolution by the European Parliament, the Dutch House of Representatives declared Russia ‘a state sponsor of terrorism.’ It’s perfectly evident that the Russian special military operation in Ukraine can’t be qualified as a ‘sponsorship of terrorism,’" he said on Telegram.
He said the hostilities aren’t a crime of terrorism as they are conducted and qualified based on applicable norms of international humanitarian law and Article 51 of the UN Charter and a state as such can’t be a perpetrator of that crime.
"From that perspective, the anti-Russian resolutions passed by European lawmakers are legally faulty," Kosachev said.
He described the decision by the lower house of the Dutch parliament a fake legal concept.
According to the lawmaker, the collective West is substituting notions again.
"Why don’t they instead raise the question what US and European banks are used to run channels for financing terrorism, what transnational corporations sponsor the terrorist organizations that are banned by the UN, who is behind them? That means countries should focus on international counterterrorism cooperation, the search for the real beneficiaries and sponsors of international terrorism," Kosachev said.
The lower house of the Dutch parliament on November 25 voted to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. The European Parliament on November 23 passed a resolution that mentions Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.