Delegate Name: Maha Nayyer

Institute: Institute of Business Administration (Karachi, Pakistan)

Delegation: Republic of Lithuania
Committee: Security Council
Position Policy Paper: Open Agenda: The Question of Crimea
On the 26th of January, 2015, in an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, convened to discuss
the Ukrainian Crisis, the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the United Nations in New York made the following
statement: Just like the breaches of the 1991 Alma Ata Declaration, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, the
1997 Agreement between Russia and Ukraine on the presence of the Russian Black Sea fleet, the 1997 Treaty on
friendship, good-neighbourliness and cooperation between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the Geneva
statement, and the Berlin joint declaration, the Minsk agreements are just another casualty of Russias
aggression against neighbouring Ukraine.
Lithuania has enjoyed a close-knit relationship with its neighbor, Ukraine and views Russia as the primary
aggressor in this conflict. The situation has become socio-politically delicate as the issue of Crimea has become
of central concern. Having been an autonomous part of Ukraine since the split of the USSR in 1991, Russia has
renewed vigor in reincorporating Crimea into its geographical and legal jurisdiction due to its demographics.
Russians make up almost 58% of the total population of Crimea, Ukrainians about 24% and the original
inhabitants of the region, the Crimean Tatars make about 12%, after their mass influx in the early parts of the
21st century. Even the second and third most ethnically populous group put together barely make more than half the
number of Russians in this region.
Lithuania continues to maintain that Russias imperialistic leadership is to blame for the continued bloodshed
in the region. More than five thousand dead, some 11000 injured and about 1.5 million displaced, - such is
the cost of Russias continued aggression against Ukraine. Almost 50,000 fled their homes since 14 January this
year. At least 262 people were killed between 13 and 21 January alone. These statistics speak volumes about
Russias continued aggression towards the infant state of Ukraine. Lithuania continues to urge member states of the
UN to force Russia to honor the Minsk Protocol.
It is imperative that the European Union impose harsher sanctions on the Russian Federation to force the state to halt
their military aggression against its neighbor. As the Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite has stated, We cant
allow ourselves to even think about easing the sanctions. The West cant tolerate this kind of behavior. Its open
terrorism, its an open military offensive, its open war on Ukraines territory and its an open military attack by
a neighboring country.
Lithuania continues to support the United Nations in its quest towards upholding the canons of peace and security. A
joint military unit with Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania was signed into authority with a UN Security Council
mandate to oversee peacekeeping operations in the war torn state. In order to successfully defuse this
situation, the UNSC must answer the following broad questions and give them binding legal precedent:
Provide a legal definition on the status of Crimea
Broker an agreement which both Ukraine and Russia find acceptable Protect
civilians of both nationalities
Develop a legal precedent in order to prevent the development of any future conflict.