The castle on Toompea Hill in Tallinn, which houses the Estonian Parliament. File photoMOSCOW/HELSINKI, Apr 21On Thursday, the Estonian Parliament adopted a statement in which it called the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine «genocide» and called on the EU countries to abandon energy from Russia in this regard, while such statements in the Kremlin have already been called an attempt to distort the situation. «The Parliament recognizes the actions of the Russian armed forces and the military-political leadership of the genocide against the Ukrainian people. The Russian political and military leadership, together with state propaganda, ideologically condone these crimes. The Parliament also calls for support in investigating Russian crimes and bringing the perpetrators to justice, for which, in cooperation with other states, to create an international court» 
The head of the Estonian Foreign Ministry called for the urgent introduction of a new package of sanctions against RussiaEstonian deputies also called on the countries of the world to immediately tighten sanctions against Russia, including the suspension of energy trade with Russia, and increase military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. The Parliament of Ukraine had previously adopted a resolution in which it recognized the ongoing in the country, Russia's military operation to demilitarize and denazify, Ukrainian parliamentarians adopted such a wording only after US President Joe Biden spoke of «genocide». At the same time, the US President noted that the decision on whether it can be qualified in this way from a legal point of view should be made by lawyers. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, commenting on Biden's words about the alleged «genocide», said that the Kremlin considers such attempts to distort the situation unacceptable. >The Estonian Ministry of Defense admitted that sanctions against Russia had no effectThe LDPR faction submitted to the State Duma a draft statement recognizing the Russian genocide in Ukraine. The document notes that the Ukrainian authorities stopped paying pensions and social benefits to the DPR and LPR, «established their economic blockade», and the territories of the republics were the targets of continuous shelling for eight years. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, as of March 25, they have completed the main tasks of the first stage — they have significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
