РУССКИЙ
20:29 28.09.2025 •
Photo: MFA
New York, September 27, 2025
Madam President,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Eighty years ago, the most devastating war in human history came to an end, with more than 70 million lives lost to military operations, starvation, and disease. The year 1945 changed the course of world history forever. The triumph over German Nazism, under whose banners a great part of Europe had rallied, and Japanese militarism, paved the way for peace, recovery, and prosperity.
This year, Moscow and Beijing held celebrations to mark the festive days of May 9 and September 3 in honour of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and World War II. The world witnessed grand military parades in recognition of the Soviet people’s decisive contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany and the distinct role of the Chinese people in the defeat of militarist Japan. We hold sacred the memory of our combat fellowship with all the allies who stood on the side of truth in the fight against evil forces.
One of the enduring outcomes of that war was the establishment of the United Nations. The principles of this Organisation’s Charter agreed upon by its founding fathers continue to serve as a beacon of international cooperation. They embody the centuries-old experience of co-existence among the states and retain their full relevance in the era of multipolarity. The only remaining task is for all member states without exception to adhere to these principles in their entirety, totality and interconnectedness.
However, the reality is quite different. Systemic and callous violations of the principle of the sovereign equality of states undermine the very faith in justice and lead to crises and conflicts. The root cause of these problems lies in the incessant attempts to divide the world into “friends” and “foes,” into “democracies” and “autocracies,” into a “blooming garden” and a “jungle,” into those who are “at the table” and those who are “on the menu,” into a select few who are above the rules, and the rest, who are somehow obliged to serve the interests of the “golden billion.” We support the unwavering adherence to the principle of equality as it guarantees that all countries can take their rightful place in the world system regardless of their military power, population, territory, or economic capabilities.
Furthermore, the West has repeatedly violated the principle of the non-use of force or threat of force. NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia, the invasion of Iraq by a US-led coalition and NATO’s regime-change operation in Libya have all brought about tragedies. Today, Israel’s unlawful use of force against the Palestinians, along with aggressive actions targeting Iran, Qatar, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, threaten to trigger explosive developments across the entire Middle East.
Russia strongly condemned the Hamas militants’ attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. However, there is no justification for the brutal killing of civilians in Palestine, just as there is no justification for terrorist acts. There is no justification for the collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza, where Palestinian children are dying from bombings and starvation, where hospitals and schools are being destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people are losing their homes. There is no justification for the plans to annex the West Bank. Essentially, we are witnessing an attempt at a state coup to bury the UN resolutions on the creation of a Palestinian state. Recently, several Western governments announced recognition of the State of Palestine. In fact, they declared their intention to do so several months ago. This raises a question: why did it take them so long? Perhaps they had hoped that, by the time of the UN General Assembly, there would be nothing and nobody left to recognise. This situation demands immediate action to avert such a scenario, a position firmly endorsed by the participants of the High-level International Conference on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution.
The strikes on the Iranian facilities under IAEA safeguards and the subsequent strikes on the capital of Qatar during the negotiations with Hamas involving US mediators, among others, deserve condemnation.
Yesterday in the Security Council, the West rejected a rational proposal by China and Russia to extend the 2015 arrangement on Iran’s nuclear programme to allow time for diplomacy. This move has fully exposed the Western course for sabotaging the search for constructive solutions in the UN Security Council and its pursuit of unilateral concessions from Tehran through blackmail and pressure. We consider this policy unacceptable and all Western manipulations to restore the UN’s anti-Iran sanctions, as well as the sanctions themselves, illegal.
The West is not used to adhering to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs. “Colour revolutions” have become an unfortunate phenomenon of our time and unlawful unilateral sanctions have long become the main tool of Western diplomacy. Regardless of any pretexts to justify them, the essence of the sanctions remains to suppress and intimidate competitors in the global economy and politics.
Russia and the overwhelming majority of UN member states call for the immediate unconditional lifting of the trade embargo against Cuba, maintained for over 60 years, and for its removal from the notorious list of state sponsors of terrorism. We express solidarity with the people of Venezuela in the face of external sanctions and threats. We stand for preserving Latin America and the Caribbean as a territory of peace and cooperation.
As an outrageous example of undermining sovereignty and gravely interfering in internal affairs, in its actions in the Balkans, the West walked over even the fundamental UN Charter principle of requiring all UN members to implement Security Council decisions. The unilateral recognition of Kosovo’s “independence” that breaches Resolution 1244 essentially constituted an attempt on Serbia’s statehood. Now, the West has taken a course for dismantling the statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina by sabotaging the Dayton Peace Agreement. Both in Kosovo and in Bosnia, attacks have been launched on the Serbian people’s vital interests, including the long-standing rights of the Serbian Orthodox church.
Similarly, the Kiev regime, which seized power as a result of an anti-constitutional coup orchestrated by the West in 2014, is pursuing the dismantling of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and eradicating the Russian language by law from all areas of life, including education, culture and media. Ukraine is the only country in the world that has a law suppressing the native language of nearly half of its population. Arabic is not banned in Israel and Hebrew is not prohibited in the Arab countries or Iran. But Russian is banned in Ukraine. I would like to remind you that Article 1 of the UN Charter states that it is necessary to promote “respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”
Europe remains silent, obsessed with its utopian goal of delivering a “strategic defeat” on Russia. Therefore, the Kiev regime can do anything it wishes to do, including terrorist attacks against politicians and journalists, torture and extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate bombing of civilian facilities, and reckless sabotage targeting nuclear power plants.
As President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed, since the very beginning, Russia has been and remains open to negotiations aimed at eliminating the root causes of the conflict. Russia’s security and vital interests must be reliably guaranteed. The rights of Russian and Russian-speaking people on territories remaining under the control of the Kiev regime must be restored in full. This is the basis on which we are willing to discuss Ukraine’s security guarantees.
At the moment, neither Kiev nor its European sponsors show any sign of realising the gravity of the moment — or readiness to negotiate in good faith. The North Atlantic Alliance continues its expansion up to Russian borders, despite assuring Soviet leaders not to advance one inch eastward and despite the obligations assumed by NATO members within the OSCE to adhere to the principle of indivisible security and refrain from strengthening their own security at the expense of others, or seeking dominance.
We have repeatedly called on NATO capitals to respect their obligations and agree on legally binding security guarantees. Our proposals in 2008 and later in December 2021 were ignored and continue to be ignored to this day. Moreover, threats to use force against Russia are becoming more frequent, prompted by unproven accusations that Russia is planning to attack NATO and the European Union. President Putin has repeatedly debunked such provocations. Russia has not had and does not have any such intentions. However, any aggression against my country will receive a decisive response. Those in NATO and the EU who are not only convincing their voters of the inevitability of war with Russia and forcing them to tighten their belts but are also openly declaring preparations for an attack on our Kaliningrad Region and other Russian territories, should have no doubt about this.
We pin certain hopes on continuing the Russian-US dialogue, especially since the summit in Alaska. In the current US administration’s approaches, we see that they not only strive to facilitate realistic solutions to the Ukrainian crisis but are also eager to develop pragmatic cooperation without adopting an ideological posture.
Russia and the United States bear a particular responsibility for the state of global affairs and for avoiding risks that could drag humanity into a new war. As a contribution to maintaining strategic stability, on September 22, President Putin put forward a new initiative, declaring Russia’s readiness to adhere to the central quantitative limits under the New START Treaty for one year after it expires on February 5, 2026, provided that the United States reciprocates and refrains from steps that disrupt the current balance of deterrent potentials. We believe that the implementation of our proposal will create conditions for avoiding a strategic arms race, maintaining an acceptable level of predictability in the sphere of nuclear missiles, and improving Russia-US relations in general.
Colleagues,
This December marks the 65th anniversary of the General Assembly’s adoption of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. The ensuing decolonisation process, championed by the Soviet Union, was a direct consequence of realising the right of nations to self-determination. The peoples of Africa and Asia refused to live under colonial oppression – a sentiment echoed by the populations of Crimea, Donbass and Novorossiya after the 2014 coup in Ukraine in their refusal to submit to the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev. This regime, which came to power through illegitimate means, not only failed to represent their interests but also unleashed a war against them.
In both instances, the principle articulated in the 1776 American Declaration of Independence was enacted, specifically that “governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This principle, subsequently reaffirmed by numerous American presidents, found application with neither the colonial powers nor the Kiev regime, who lacked the consent of the peoples they sought to rule. It was later unanimously reaffirmed in the 1970 UN Declaration, which stipulates that the territorial integrity of a state is contingent upon it being “possessed of a government representing the whole people belonging to the territory.”
Today, Africa and the wider Global South are experiencing a renewed awakening as they strive for full independence – a process from which the United Nations must not stand apart. In December 2024, the General Assembly approved the Resolution on the Eradication of Colonialism in all its Forms and Manifestations. As a next step, we call for a decision to declare December 14 the International Day against Colonialism. We welcome the role of the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter in consolidating efforts to counter neocolonial and other discriminatory practices against the Global Majority, and we invite all independent states to join this initiative.
The current global balance of power differs dramatically from that established 80 years ago. Decades of decolonisation and other tectonic shifts have redrawn the world’s political map. The Global Majority is now asserting its rights with a powerful voice. In this context, the SCO and BRICS play a prominent role as key mechanisms for coordinating the interests of the Global South and East. Concurrently, the influence of the African Union, CELAC and other regional associations continues to grow.
These new realities have yet to be adequately reflected in the institutional architecture of our Organisation. The reform of the UN Security Council remains a particularly pressing issue. Russia advocates for its democratisation through broader representation of countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America. We support the candidacies of Brazil and India for permanent membership in the Security Council, as well as the redress of the historical injustice against Africa, based on parameters agreed upon by the continent’s countries themselves.
We note the recent proposal by Secretary-General António Guterres for a comprehensive reform of the UN and support an open discussion of this initiative. The benchmark for any reform should be a return to the fundamental principles enshrined in the UN Charter, which have been challenged by the concept of a “rules-based order” promoted by the West for years. It is imperative that this process is conducted transparently and inclusively, with the broad participation of all Member States and due regard for their interests.
We further call on the Secretary-General and all staff of the UN Secretariat to strictly abide by the principles of impartiality and equidistance, as enshrined in Article 100 of the Charter. We must guard against a “soft coup” and the effective “privatisation” of the Secretariat by a limited group of countries. Its composition must better reflect contemporary global realities and ensure equitable representation for the Global Majority. We count on a constructive discussion on the Organisation’s future evolution at a special meeting of the UN Security Council, which Russia, as President, plans to convene on United Nations Day, October 24.
The UN reform constitutes only one part of the broader challenge of transforming the entire system of global governance, which must encompass the genuine democratisation of the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO, to make the Global South and East representation commensurate with their weight and role in the world economy.
In discussions on global reforms, it is impossible to overlook the deteriorating international security situation. The primary reason for this, as I previously stated, is the pursuit by some of a strategy to maintain hegemony through reliance on military force. Consequently, an increasing number of countries and regions are being drawn into confrontational blocs. Europe has clearly become too small for NATO, which is now extending its reach into the Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. This expansion undermines the central role of regional mechanisms like ASEAN and creates security threats not only for China and Russia but for all states in the region. The NATO leadership rationalises this new phase by asserting an “indivisibility of security” between the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions – a slogan to justify its attempts to surround the whole of Eurasia with a military ring.
Russia, together with like-minded states, offers a constructive alternative to this dangerous course: the establishment of a new architecture of equal and indivisible security in Eurasia. This framework would be inclusive, designed not for a single bloc like NATO and its allies but for all countries and regional associations across the continent without exception, including the SCO, the CIS, ASEAN, the EAEU, the CSTO, the GCC, and others.
To this end, Belarus and Russia, as partners in the Union State, propose the development of a Eurasian Charter for Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century. The launch of a truly continent-wide process is now imperative, given that the West’s actions have rendered the previous Euro-Atlantic security model, centred on NATO, the EU, and the OSCE, effectively meaningless. We see no prospect of restoring this model in its previous form, a reality that some European capitals have themselves begun to acknowledge.
Speaking about the future, we must not forget about the lessons of the past, especially in a situation where Nazism is again rearing its head in Europe and militarisation is gaining momentum – under the same anti-Russia slogans.
This is all the more alarming since a number of political figures in power in Brussels and certain EU and NATO capitals are seriously beginning to talk about a Third World War as a likely scenario. Such politicians undermine efforts to find a genuine balance of interests among all members of the international community, seeking to impose their unilateral approaches in gross violation of a key requirement of the UN Charter: respect for the sovereign equality of states. It is this very principle of equality that provides the essential framework for the emerging multipolar world order.
Russia is not advocating for revolution in any country. Our nation has suffered from the consequences of revolutions more than most. We are simply calling on all member states and the leadership of the UN Secretariat to adhere strictly to every principle of the UN Charter, without exception or double standards. This is the only way to ensure that the legacy of the United Nations’ founding fathers is preserved, not squandered.
Thank you.
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