Russia’s disinformation and historical falsification to justify its war of aggression against Ukraine

Amendments tabled for the plenary sitting on this text, in their own numbering series. This is a different set from the committee amendments tracked elsewhere on AmendEU, and is not counted in any of the site’s amendment totals.

1. Amendment 1The LeftJoint motion for a resolution · Recital G
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   G. whereas Russia has not only failed to acknowledge the unforgivable initial role of the Soviet Union in the early stages of World War II, for example through the 1939 Treaty of Non-Aggression between Nazi Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union) and its secrets protocols, commonly referred to as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, in which both totalitarian regimes conspired to divide Europe into exclusive spheres of influence, and failed to assume its responsibility for the many atrocities and mass crimes committed in territories occupied by the Soviet Union, but the current Russian regime has also instrumentalised history and created a cult of ‘victory’ around…

   Amendment

   G. whereas Russia has failed to acknowledge the unforgivable initial role of the Soviet Union in the early stages of World War II, for example through the 1939 Treaty of Non-Aggression between Nazi Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union) and its secrets protocols, commonly referred to as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, in which both totalitarian regimes conspired to divide Europe into exclusive spheres of influence; whereas in 1938, the United Kingdom and France signed the Munich Agreement with Nazi Germany, excluding the Soviet Union from the negotiations; whereas this effectively allowed Hitler to annex the Sudetenland and invade the sovereign state of Czech…

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2. Amendment 2The LeftJoint motion for a resolution · Recital I
   Current text

   I. whereas Victory Day, celebrated annually on 9 May, has been turned by the current Russian regime into a tool of war propaganda in Russia, by exploiting the narrative of the ‘liberation of Europe from Nazism’ and thus ignoring the subsequent Soviet occupation of the Baltic States and the subjugation of central Europe; whereas this narrative of liberation from Nazism is being used today in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine;

   Amendment

   I. whereas Victory Day, celebrated annually on 9 May, has been turned by the current Russian regime into a tool of war propaganda in Russia, by exploiting the narrative of the ‘liberation of Europe from Nazism’ and thus ignoring the subsequent Soviet occupation of the Baltic States and the subjugation of central Europe; whereas this narrative of liberation from Nazism is being used today in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine; whereas the Soviet people contributed significantly to the defeat of Nazism, which cost the lives of between 8 and 10 million Red Army soldiers and over 13 million civilians in the then USSR;

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3. Amendment 3ECRJoint motion for a resolution · Recital H
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   H. whereas Russia has developed a growing disinformation campaign of historical revisionism for the purpose of denying Ukraine its national identity, statehood and very existence, and with the aim of justifying its claims to exclusive spheres of influence, which is reminiscent of how the Soviet Union agreed with Nazi Germany to invade and occupy parts of Poland and Romania as well as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; whereas today, Russia poses a particular threat to Poland and the Baltic States and their sovereignty through this type of historical revisionism;

   Amendment

   H. whereas Russia has developed a growing disinformation campaign of historical revisionism for the purpose of denying Ukraine its national identity, statehood and very existence, and with the aim of justifying its claims to exclusive spheres of influence, which is reminiscent of how the Soviet Union agreed with Nazi Germany to invade and occupy Poland and parts of Romania as well as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, including territories in today’s Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova which are now being subjected to a new wave of Russian imperialism; whereas today, Russia poses a particular threat to Poland and the Baltic States and their sovereignty through this type o…

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4. Amendment 4ECRJoint motion for a resolution · Paragraph 4
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   4. Condemns the Russian Federation’s failure to establish accountability for Soviet crimes and its deliberate obstruction of historical research by denying access to and closing Soviet archives, as well as the fact that it has enacted legislation criminalising the truthful portrayal of Soviet and Russian crimes and persecuted civil society organisations investigating Soviet crimes, and has glorified Stalinist totalitarianism and re-created its methods; maintains that impunity and the lack of factually accurate historical and public debate and education has contributed to the current Russian regime’s ability to revive imperialist policies and instrumentalise history for its criminal purposes;…

   Amendment

   4. Condemns the Russian Federation’s failure to establish accountability for Soviet crimes and its deliberate obstruction of historical research by denying access to and closing Soviet archives, as well as the fact that it has enacted legislation criminalising the truthful portrayal of Soviet and Russian crimes and persecuted civil society organisations investigating Soviet crimes, and has glorified Stalinist totalitarianism and re-created its methods; maintains that impunity and the lack of factually accurate historical and public debate and education has contributed to the current Russian regime’s ability to revive imperialist policies and instrumentalise history for its criminal purposes…

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5. Amendment 5ECRJoint motion for a resolution · Paragraph 9
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   9. Calls for the EU to expand its sanctions against Russian media outlets conducting disinformation and information manipulation campaigns supporting and justifying Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and calls on the Member States to swiftly and thoroughly implement these sanctions and to dedicate sufficient resources to effectively addressing this hybrid warfare; calls for the EU and the Member States to step up their support for the independent Russian media in exile in order to enable diverse voices in the Russian-language media;

   Amendment

   9. Calls for the EU to expand its sanctions against Russian media outlets and other institutions, including academic and cultural institutions, conducting disinformation and information manipulation campaigns, historical falsification, and the promotion of imperialistic ideology supporting and justifying Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and calls on the Member States to swiftly and thoroughly implement these sanctions and to dedicate sufficient resources to effectively addressing this hybrid warfare; calls for the EU and the Member States to step up their support for the independent Russian media in exile in order to enable diverse voices in the Russian-language media;

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6. Amendment 6ECRJoint motion for a resolution · Paragraph 14
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   14. Believes that Russia’s attempts to misrepresent, revise and distort the history of Ukraine undermine the collective memory and identity of Europe as a whole and represent a threat to historical truth, democratic values and peace in Europe; calls on the Member States, therefore, to invest more in education on and research into the common history of Europe and European remembrance, and to support projects that promote a better understanding of the impact of the division of Europe during the Cold War; expresses its support for the building of a pan-European memorial in Brussels for the victims of the 20th century totalitarian regimes; regrets the continued use of symbols of totalitarian reg…

   Amendment

   14. Believes that Russia’s attempts to misrepresent, revise and distort the history of Ukraine undermine the collective memory and identity of Europe as a whole and represent a threat to historical truth, democratic values and peace in Europe; calls on the Member States, therefore, to invest more in education on and research into the common history of Europe and European remembrance, and to support projects that promote a better understanding of the impact of the division of Europe during the Cold War; expresses its support for the building of a pan-European memorial in Brussels for the victims of the 20th century totalitarian regimes and reiterates its call for 25 May (the anniversary of th…

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7. Amendment 7ECRJoint motion for a resolution · Paragraph 14 a (new)
   Amendment

   14a. Recalls that countries forcefully incorporated into the Soviet bloc after World War II never received proper compensation either from Germany or the Soviet Union, despite atrocious damage to their infrastructure and population caused by both totalitarian regimes; calls on the Commission to develop effective mechanisms to ensure a clear, internationally recognised legal pathway for all victims of past and future human rights abuses to make their claims and to allow them to receive reparations from the perpetrating state or its successor;

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8. Amendment 8ECRJoint motion for a resolution · Paragraph 14 b (new)
   Amendment

   14b. Emphasises that painful, unresolved issues, such as the 1943-45 Volyn massacre, are also being exploited by Russia to sow division, and calls on the Ukrainian authorities to seriously address this problem, recognising the need to conduct a search for the victims, exhume their remains and ensure their proper burial;

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9. Amendment 9ECRJoint motion for a resolution · Paragraph 15
   Current text

   15. Expresses its wish for the EU and its Member States to promote better knowledge and understanding of the human suffering of Europeans inflicted by the Soviet regime during the 20th century; in this respect, calls for remembrance and respect for the victims of Soviet crimes, such as the mass deportations, including of the Crimean Tatar people and from the Baltic countries, the Gulag system, the Holodomor, massacres such as the Katyn massacre, and the Upper Silesian tragedy;

   Amendment

   15. Expresses its wish for the EU and its Member States to promote better knowledge and understanding of the human suffering of Europeans inflicted by the Soviet regime during the 20th century; in this respect, calls for remembrance and respect for the victims of Soviet crimes, such as the mass deportations, including of the Crimean Tatar people and from Poland and the Baltic countries, the Gulag system, the Holodomor, massacres such as the Katyn massacre, and crimes committed after 1944 on territories occupied by the Red Army, such as the Augustów roundup and the Upper Silesian tragedy, as well as countless brutal instances of persecution of anti-communist resistance movements, including th…

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