On November 13, 2015, Ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S. Valeriy Chaly met with Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Stanislav Shevchuk, President of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania Dainius Žalimas and President of the Constitutional Court of Moldova Alexandru Tănase, who are visiting Washington, D.C. to attend a Conference of the European Judicial Network of the Federalist Society (USA). The meeting was also attended by Mr. James P. Kelly, III, Director for International Relations of the Federalist Society.

Ambassador Chaly thanked the Presidents of Constitutional Courts of Lithuania and Moldova for their consistent and meaningful support for Ukraine. In so doing, the initiative of the Constitutional Courts of Lithuania and Moldova led to establishing of the Association of Constitutional Justice of the Countries of the Baltic and Black Sea Regions. The Declaration of foundation of the Association was signed by the Heads of Constitutional Courts of Lithuania, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine on October 28, 2015. The goal of the Association is not only strengthening of relations between its members but also joint representation of interests of the Courts in the constitutional-justice world and European forums.

Further, Ambassador Chaly expressed appreciation that the Constitutional Courts of Lithuania and Moldova had supported the Ukrainian Constitutional Court’s initiative to condemn the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of March 19, 2014, which had been used as a key element in an attempt to “legalizing” the unlawful annexation by Russia of Crimea. By signing the Joint Statement on respect for the territorial integrity and international law in administering constitutional justice of September 10, 2015, the Constitutional Courts of European countries clearly stated that the decision of the Russian Constitutional Court has been “an unprecedented incident showing that this Court has become a tool for committing a gross violation of international legal norms”.