Vassily Nebenzia: “We would like to recall once again that no schemes aimed at freezing the conflict are agreeable to Russia”

Vassily Nebenzia
Photo: The Permanent Mission of Russia to the United Nations

Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at a UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine. Main points:

- We regard today's meeting as a desperate attempt by the sponsors and puppeteers of the Kiev regime to keep Ukraine “afloat” as a topic in the Security Council, which happens at a time when most of the international community is obviously losing interest in it. This comes as no surprise – the expired Ukrainian President Zelensky has lately managed to discredit the Ukrainian authorities to such an extent that it is only his accomplices who still dare to express support for the Kiev regime, precisely those who orchestrated and instigated the anti-constitutional coup in February 2014.

- We have all had a great opportunity to see the former comedian go to great pains bowing and scraping before the Republicans that won the US elections. In an attempt to make everybody forget that Kiev banked on the Democrats, Zelensky and his associates have been tirelessly traveling across the US and its major satellites with hat at hand, trying to make sure that the new administration will not throw them under the bus.

- Yet, Kiev's officials have sour faces. And it is not because they haven’t managed to get another “license to rule” or because they are receiving signals about an inevitable reduction in military support. The reason why they look so displeased is that they are anticipating an audit into the American funds already spent on Ukraine. As we have repeatedly warned, it is the most frightening scenario for the corrupt Ukrainian authorities.

- Essentially, it was recently reconfirmed by the American President-elect’s appointee as head of the FBI, Kash Patel, who intends to “ask Congress to investigate where this money went. The American people should get an answer to this… How can we trust this government when we give such large sums and do not receive reports on what they were spent on?” He also intends to find out whether the Ukrainian president used false security threats to obtain financial assistance from the United States.

- It is noteworthy that both Western media and the few remaining independent Ukrainian media outlets are united in their assessment that this audit does not bode well not only for the Ukrainian “supreme” actor, but also for his Democratic accomplices. Not surprisingly, they got nervous: Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was blunt saying that the outgoing administration is going do everything it can in the remaining “to give Ukraine every tool … to strengthen their position on the battlefield…” He clarified that he primarily talked about massive military shipments “so that we’ve spent every dollar that Congress has allocated to us by the time President Biden leaves office.”

- Let us recall that we are talking about the “drawdown” of 6.5 billion dollars. However, as Western experts have pointed out, we are not talking about the actual supply of weapons to the Kiev regime – it is virtually impossible to do this in such a short period of time. What we are talking about is the mere “splitting the pot and getting kickbacks,” which the incoming Trump administration intends to stop. We advise everyone to get their popcorn ready, as we are expecting this show to go on.

- According to a recent Gallup poll, over half of Ukrainians are in favor of ending the conflict as soon as possible, and are ready to accept inevitable territorial concessions. We know how biased Western sociologists are; and therefore, we have every reason to believe that the real figure is much higher. The real sentiment in Ukrainian society manifests itself in facts that more than one hundred thousand people have deserted and the absolute majority of Ukrainians are unwilling to fight for the inhumane corrupt regime that has usurped power in Ukraine in violation of the country's Constitution. It is also confirmed by the fact that Ukrainians, fleeing the arbitrary rule of the authorities, are seeking en masse to move to Russia and they do return to former Ukrainian territories that have become parts of Russia.

- Having picked up on these sentiments and receiving discouraging signals from Washington, the head of the Kiev junta has of late significantly lowered the bar of expectations. He is far less enthusiastic in touting his “victory plan”, nor is he “spouting” any longer ideas regarding a potential settlement of the crisis. Make no mistake about these showy peace-loving assertions. All these ideas have a couple of things in common: first, they are rehashes of the so-called “Zelensky formula” and, second, they are impossible to implement in practice, as they do not address the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis. In fact, all Zelensky’s proposals, as well as the ones of a number of Western politicians, who turn on a dime, boil down to freezing the conflict along the “line of contact”, giving up the territories that are now part of Russia, and providing security guarantees for “independent Ukraine” within the altered borders. The last thing on the “wishlist” of the man in the green fufaika is to get Joe Biden before he leaves the White House to extend an invitation to NATO for the whole of Ukraine within internationally recognized borders, with the Alliance's guarantees being extended "to the part that Ukraine currently controls, with potential for future expansion."

- Even if we cast aside the irrationality of this “awesome new idea”, we would like to recall once again that no schemes aimed at freezing the conflict are agreeable to Russia. The Minsk agreements demonstrated that neither the West nor the Kiev junta can be trusted, and we are well aware that the whole point of such “tricks” is to give the Kiev regime a respite on the battlefield to “lick the wounds” and rearm. NATO involvement in settling the Ukrainian crisis is out of question. From the very outset, NATO and Ukraine's membership therein have been part of the problem, not part of the solution.

- The end of the criminal and insatiable regime is looming, the frontline is coming undone across the board, the territory under Ukraine’s control is shrinking by day, and the citizens of Ukraine are increasingly seeking peace and refusing to go to war. Our conditions for ending the conflict are clear and logical and have nothing to do with those surrogate formulas that do not address the threats to Russia emanating from the Kiev regime; and these formulas have been actively promoted by Kiev's Western allies. As long as they proceed with this promotion, we will continue to pursue the objectives of special military operation by military means and respond to the Kiev regime's provocations, just as we did on December 13.

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