Mr. Oleksandr Merezhko:

I thank members for the great questions. I will start with peace because I assure the committee no one in the world right now yearns for peace as much as we Ukrainians do. We want peace but we do not want appeasement. Appeasement means death to us. We want peace based on international law, which means the withdrawal of Russian troops. The answer to the question about peace talks can be found in the recently adopted resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which states very clearly that "... any peace talks can only take place under the conditions set out by Ukraine and after the withdrawal of the Russian troops ... from the whole territory of Ukraine". To have any negotiations, peace or ceasefire, we need two things. First, we need another party, a sort of counterpart or subject for peace negotiations, which is reliable. We need to be sure that this person or country will keep its promises and abide by the agreement reached as a result of negotiations. In this regard, Putin has absolutely no credibility. He is a pathological liar, criminal and violator. He is a war criminal. How can we trust this person or any deal with this person who has already violated all treaties with Ukraine, who ignores international law and absolutely does not care? That is the first requirement.

The second is that there should be an objective for any talks or deal. We have heard many times about different kinds of peace plans by Brazil, China and whatever. They are too abstract. They do not answer very simple questions, such as territorial concessions. I suspect these plans for peace or, to be more precise, plans for appeasement of the aggressor, imply territorial concessions on the part of Ukraine. That is totally unacceptable, not only for Ukraine but for the whole world and the international legal order.

There was a great question about sanctions. That is another point.

We are in favour of the total economic isolation of Russia. Unfortunately, Russia has found ways to adapt to circumventing the sanctions. Some countries have turned into hubs, and this helps Russia to circumvent and bypass sanctions. That is why we need secondary sanctions against those countries that are buying Russian oil and gas and thereby financing the Russian war machine. These are the kinds of sanctions we need. We also need Ireland's co-operation because we need to freeze and confiscate all moneys belonging to Russia as a state and to Russian oligarchs. The latter also support and finance the war. We need to confiscate their money and give it to the victims of the aggression.