Eastern Partnership Approves Text of Final Declaration

According to Slovenian Prime Minister, the participants of the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga have eventually approved the final declaration after hours of debates about the draft text that condemned Crimea's reunification with Russia.

RIGA (Sputnik) – The Slovenian prime minister said Friday the participants of the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga have eventually approved the final declaration after hours of debates about the draft text that condemned Crimea's reunification with Russia.

"As far as I know, the final declaration has been approved," Miroslav Cerar told reporters.

The two-day EU-Eastern Partnership summit, involving EU leaders and their counterparts from Belarus, Armenia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova kicked off in the Latvian capital of Riga Thursday.

On Thursday, Armenia and Belarus refused to sign the joint declaration over the use of the word "annexation" to describe Crimea's reunification with Russia last spring.

Over 60 years after its transfer to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Crimea rejoined Russia following a referendum in March 2014. Almost 96 percent of those who voted in the Black Sea peninsula's referendum supported the decision.

The EU-Eastern Partnership to establish closer ties between the 28-member European Union and the six former Soviet republics was established in 2009.