РУССКИЙ
14:17 25.09.2024 •
Photo: Permanent mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations
Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at the UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine. Main points:
- The Western countries were unable to refrain from poisoning the atmosphere, and once again they tried to fill airtime with a hackneyed Ukrainian issue, which the rest of the world sees as such. The only reason they convened this meeting was to provide Mr. Zelensky with yet another concert venue at the United Nations, this time in the Chamber of the Security Council. As backing singers, he has today a whole group of EU and NATO members, who march in lockstep each time they are instructed to come to the Security Council to malign Russia.
- This could even be a somewhat amusing illustration of how dependent these countries are on their big brothers from the NATO camp when it comes to their foreign policy agenda. But what we are witnessing now is yet another grim example of how the collective West is dealing blow after blow to the authority of the UN Security Council, in order to serve its geopolitical interests.
- Today, the Slovenian Presidency intends to allow as many as eleven delegations to participate in the meeting under rules 37 and 39 of the UNSC Provisional Rules of Procedure, even though its format is not an open debate but a briefing, which, in accordance with established practice, does not provide for such a large number of participants from among non-Council members. What was the Presidency guided by when convened this “cheerleading squad”? We understand why Ukraine, the EU and countries bordering Ukraine participate in the briefing. But we can hardly understand why, say, Lithuania, Germany, Denmark, Italy are here. How are they specially affected by what is happening? For them, this is just an opportunity to make it into TV and practice their anti-Russian rhetoric.
- As a result, the Council will have to listen to “cookie-cutter” arguments drafted in Brussels by EU and NATO members, which provide no “added value” whatsoever to the discussion. I would like to warn you at once that we are not going to waste our time on listening to these “hackneyed” speeches.
- An absolutely horrific and inhumane military campaign is taking place today right before our very eyes. This is how the UN Secretary-General described it earlier in September: “The level of suffering we are witnessing is unprecedented in my mandate as Secretary-General of the United Nations. I’ve never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in the last few months.” The conflict has already claimed the lives of nearly 42,000 people, including more than 300 humanitarian workers. The territory, where 2 million people live, now lies in ruins, it has become uninhabitable and will remain so for years, if not decades. António Guterres previously dubbed this area a “graveyard for children” because so many women and children perished there. Nevertheless, the UN Security Council has been unable to achieve a ceasefire there (requested by all humanitarian workers without exception) for nearly a year now. This is due to the position of a single permanent member of the Security Council who cast a veto five times for this sake.
- I believe it is evident to everyone that we are not speaking about Ukraine, but about the crisis in Gaza. For the difference between them to be even starker, let us recall that a year ago, after the beginning of the Israeli operation in the Strip, several thousand Israelis of Ukrainian origin moved to Ukraine, since they decided that they would be safer there. After all, the residents of Ukraine are perfectly aware that Russia does not carry out attacks against civilian objects unless they are used for military purposes. All such incidents hyped by the Ukrainian authorities happen because the Ukrainian air defence systems are operating from the residential areas of Ukrainian cities where they are deployed.
- Under these circumstances, it is obvious why the whole world was expecting that the UN Security Council would bring together the eminent guests that have arrived to New York specifically to discuss the situation in Gaza. Moreover, the tectonic shifts caused by the crisis threaten to plunge the entire Middle East region, from Lebanon to Iran and Yemen, into a major and brutal regional conflict. In the last two days alone, almost 600 Lebanese were killed by Israeli strikes. However, Western members of the Security Council booked this chamber in advance specifically for the PR benefit of the “expired” Ukrainian president. If it were not for the Arab and developing countries who requested a meeting to be held on September 27th, the Security Council would not have discussed Gaza at all during this week.
- After the regime in Kiev categorically refused to implement the Minsk Agreements and its Western sponsors rebuffed any dialogue with Russia on European security issues, our country, having come face to face with a significant intensification of Ukrainian strikes targeting peaceful cities in the republics of Donbas, decided to launch a special military operation.
- However, despite the bountiful supplies of weapons, including long-range weapons, deliveries of intelligence information, targeting, the deployment of mercenaries and instructors, and the West’s direct involvement in the conflict with the aim of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia with the hands of Ukrainians, the Ukrainian army today is on the verge of complete collapse. In order to be convinced of this, it suffices to read the military communiques stating the rapid destruction of Kiev’s fortification lines on the eastern front, which were erected over the course of almost 8 years.
- To have the full picture, we should also take into account the fact that the recruitment of new soldiers, whom Zelensky’s regime is throwing to certain death in a pointless meat grinder, is being carried out almost exclusively by force as a result of raids. This is shown on videos which outraged Ukrainian citizens have posted, and the Ukrainian segment of the Internet is flooded with such images. In other words, the Ukrainians do not wish to go to war, they are trying their best to flee the country, and those who find themselves on the front without being appropriately trained, are attempting to either desert or surrender.
- Understanding all of this, the head of the Kiev junta has decided to make use of the sole remaining chance to cling to power and to avoid reprisals from his own compatriots, namely by dragging the West into a direct confrontation with Russia. A large-scale Bucha-like provocation would have hit the bill, but it was so clumsy and so unpersuasive that the new one could not be convincing enough either. The other option would be to provoke a strong response on strikes with long-range western weapons targeting facilities deep within Russian territory, and then to “cry for help”. However, Western leaders, whose self-preservation instinct has not yet completely atrophied, have not yet taken this decision, or at least they are not eager to announce it.
- Therefore, the Kiev’s ringleader decided to go all-in and, having lulled everyone with his reflections about peace, decided to launch a reckless attack on a peaceful Russian border region. However, here too, things did not go as planned. He did not achieve his goals and was forced to squander valuable human resources and Western equipment, which is in short supply, in the Kursk region while the collapse of the eastern front is under way, and at an unprecedented pace.
- And here he is, in New York, once again with an extended hand, and once again he is attempting to persuade the states to “raise the stakes” in the conflict with Russia and throw their own sons to certain death in Ukraine, thus becoming a direct party to the conflict with a nuclear power. Zelensky has nothing to lose, but the US and its allies certainly do. And they are perfectly aware of the cost they will have to pay for an attempt to save the Ukrainian deadweight, “a suitcase without a handle”.
- In western battle cries, Ukraine is portrayed as an “innocent victim of Russian aggression” and the United States and its allies – as peacekeepers. Nothing could be further from the truth than such assertions. Ukraine under the neo-Nazi Kiev regime has become a one-man dictatorship. And for the sake of preserving his power and in blind obedience to the West, the dictator is willing to not only drown the entire country in blood and sacrifice all young Ukrainians who were unable to flee the country, but also to push the world into the abyss of World War III. And just a few years ago V. Zelensky said the following: “I can assure you, for our heroes to not die any longer, I am willing to do anything. And I am certainly not afraid to make difficult decisions. I’m ready to lose my post without hesitation, if only for the advent of peace”. Now these phrases seem like something from the realm of fantasy, they have lost their relevance whatsoever. With his support among the population at an all-time low, he has a primordial fear of losing power, because he realizes that he will pay for all the crimes he committed while in office.
- I would like to remind you that the next regular elections were to be held on March 31, but V. Zelensky canceled them under the pretext of martial law, which contradicts the country's Constitution. After May 20 this year, when the presidential powers should have been transferred (according to the Constitution) to the Speaker of the Verkhovnaya Rada, the leader of the Kiev junta turned into a conventional usurper of power. By the way, on August 28, the authorities of the ninth session of the Rada expired.
- In the five years of his presidential term, he has brought the country entrusted to him to the abyss, selling out Ukraine to Western corporations, destroying its economy and plunging it into the deepest demographic crisis.
- President Biden spoke today at the General Assembly about the need to save the Ukrainian nation. The Ukrainian nation is not threatened with anything. We are not fighting it. We are fighting against the criminal regime that has seized power in Kiev and is leading its people to disaster. And this is not a war “for territories”, as our foes claim. This is a battle for people's consciousness and people’s rights.
- A just and lasting resolution to the Ukrainian crisis is only possible when its root causes are eradicated. First and foremost, we are talking about the end of violations of the rights of the Russian-speaking population and the repeal of other discriminatory laws in Ukraine. Today from many corners, we hear calls for a political and diplomatic solution based on the United Nations Charter. However, there will be no resolution without overcoming the “Maidan legacy”, eradicating nationalism, Nazism and other manifestations of discrimination in Ukraine, without respect for the rights and fundamental freedoms of all without distinction as to race, gender, language and religion in accordance with Article 1.3 of the Charter. We have not heard about these seemingly obvious things either from our Western colleagues or from the UN Secretary General. Nor did we hear another important thesis that the purposes and principles of the Charter must be fully observed in their integrity, totality and interrelation. In addition to the provisions on respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, it also contains the principle of self-determination of peoples. That principle should never be overlooked, nor should be overlooked the principle of the responsibility of States for all their citizens without exception.
- We hope that the Kiev regime will not be able to completely destroy their country and their people (which is already around the corner), nor push our world into the abyss of a nuclear catastrophe. For this purpose, it should promptly embrace realistic parameters for a long-term settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, rather than constantly slipping into some unrealistic ultimatums, plans for victory, etc. The price for this criminal “flipping arrogance” is paid by ordinary Ukrainians, whose resistance to the high-handed Kiev clique is visibly growing.
- As far as we are concerned, Russia had always been ready to live in peace and good-neighborliness with Ukraine until it was shaped into an aggressive, Russophobic, neo-Nazi wasp nest, threatening our security, and began to make plans to draw it into the militaristic NATO bloc. We have always respected the Ukrainians; they are a brotherly people with whom we have unbreakable historical ties. It is no coincidence that several million of Ukrainians have found shelter in Russia.
- But if the Western camp will not allow us to get rid of this “cancerous tumor” (which is the current Kiev regime) by peaceful means, and if geopolitical and economic considerations of Washington and its satellites will persistently prevail over the goals to save the country, we will continue our special military operation until its objectives are attained by military means. If there is no other way to achieve peace.
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