Ukrainian Activist Banned from EU Parliament

We received this day, uh, me,

that unfortunately your exit has been banned in the, in the EP

premises.

We have just seen that Ms. Julia Mendel, the former

press spokesperson for Ukrainian President Zelensky, was denied entry

to Parliament.

We heard that I will be banned from the European Parliament, from entering the

European Parliament.

Ms. Mendel was invited by me in my capacity as a Member of the

European Parliament, to give a lecture here today,

to give a speech on the topic: The Courage to Pursue Peace,

Diplomacy Instead of Escalation. Ms. Mendel has, we have

examined this in detail, in no way

embraced Russian propaganda or disinformation.

Uh, today I was expected to deliver my speech

Uh, today I was expected to deliver my speech

about peace, and,

Um, I still believe that there is only one way for Ukraine to survive as

a

nation is to have peace.

On the contrary, she repeatedly and vehemently criticized the Russian leadership

for the war of aggression against her country

which she stands up for today.

You know, we as a country always look at the

European Union as, um,

the union of freedoms, the union of respect for human rights, of

freedom of speech, freedom of expression.

And for me, it is really very strange to, to see that

I'm banned on the day when I need to give this speech about

peace.

I'm grateful to AfD for organizing anyway, the ability for me to speak through video

conference today.

But, um, to be frank, this is stressful, and this is—

I, I don't see any kind of explanation for

this.

It is incomprehensible to me that the President of Parliament

would deny entry to such a committed peace activist who

can speak knowledgeably about her subject to the

parliamentarians, preventing her from speaking to them.

I know that there are a lot of Ukrainians, literally millions of Ukrainians, who

I know that there are a lot of Ukrainians, literally millions of Ukrainians, who

beg for peace. I get support from Western Ukraine,

Eastern Ukraine,

Donbas, from Kyiv, from, from every part of the

country. And so many people were expecting me to deliver this

speech. It's a pity. It's a pity that there is such

self-censorship and that European parliamentarians do not want

to

hear those Ukrainians who want peace.

We will now, uh, through my office and with the help of the

parliamentary group,

take the appropriate steps

to file a complaint and seek redress

to achieve something regarding this outrageous incident.

So it's quite offensive. Um,

I need to forgive. Uh, and again, I'm, I'm grateful that I will

be able to deliver the speech via video conference. Thank you for being here.