Addressing the Congress on 22 March 2022, ILDG President Marc Cools recalled that he had visited Ukraine on several occasions in his capacity as rapporteur of the Congress and election observer. He underlined that “Ukraine was all but a puppet-state as Russian authorities wished to present it. Maybe that is exactly what bothers Mr Putin because he does not want to have a democratic state by his borders”.

Marc Cools invited colleagues to address letters to former Russian members and to call on them to respect the values and the principles enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights. “This is perhaps a small breach in the wall of lies, but we must try it”.

Marc Cools called on fellow members of the Congress to condemn unequivocally and unitedly the Russian aggression in Ukraine and to endorse the declaration proposed by the Bureau of the Congress.