Speaker of Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, on Wednesday called on the Croatian Parliament to adopt a declaration condemning Russia for "state-sponsored terrorism" and formally proclaim Russian war crimes "a genocide against the Ukrainian people," state news agency Hina said.

Stefanchuk appeared before Croatian MPs on Wednesday and called on Croatia to follow the example set by ex-Soviet Baltic countries and Poland and ban Russian nationals from entering Croatia. He also called on Croatia to help establish an international tribunal for war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.

“Russia has become a global threat to the security, stability and prosperity of Europe and the entire world,” Stefanchuk told MPs in the Croatian Sabor.

“I would like the Sabor to become the first parliament of a Council of Europe member country to ratify the decision passed by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on 13 October,” he said. “Russia has been committing mass war crimes in Ukraine,” he said, urging the Sabor to formally declare these war crimes “a genocide against the Ukrainian people.”

Kyiv has been calling on Europe and the rest of the world to impose tighter sanctions on Russia over its aggression against Ukraine.

“We are calling on Croatia to follow the example of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland which have denied entry to Russian nationals who already hold visas for the Schengen Area because they consider it a matter of national security,” he said.

He also called on Croatia to continue implementing the “successful rehabilitation” of Ukrainian soldiers at its health care institutions, as well as a humanitarian program which includes receiving Ukrainian children to spend their holidays in Croatia.

In a few weeks’ time Ukraine will commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor, a 1932-33 man-made famine from the Soviet era, in which millions of Ukrainians died of starvation. Stefanchuk said he was aware that the Sabor was considering adopting a declaration recognizing the Holodomor as an act of genocide.

“It is important for the global community to condemn that grave crime of the Communist regime against the Ukrainian people,” Stefanchuk said.

The Russian aggression has been targeting and destroying Ukrainian infrastructure and the country is to undergo a process of reconstruction, and Croatian experts have been invited to join the effort. “We expect Croatian experts in Ukraine, we will need Croatian experience in building high-quality road infrastructure,” Stefanchuk said.

Addressing the Croatian parliament a day after Zagreb hosted the First Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform, Stefanchuk thanked Croatia for what he described as “excellent organisation of the event” and their hospitality, noting that it was “a courageous and responsible decision, made by closest, loyal friends.”

“In a declaration adopted on 25 February the Croatian parliament strongly condemned the Russian aggression against Ukraine, which bears evidence of the strong ties between the two countries, which were also among the first to recognize each other,” he said, referring to the early 1990s. The Croatian Parliament recognized Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union on 5 February 1991, while Ukraine recognized Croatia’s independence from Yugoslavia nine months later, on 11 December 1991.

Stefanchuk thanked Croatia for having taken in some 25,000 Ukrainian refugees and for its military, humanitarian and diplomatic assistance.

He paid tribute to the victims of Croatia’s 1991-95 independence war, adding that the two countries “share the painful experience of aggression against their independence” and calling on Croatian MPs to observe a minute’s silence for all victims.