Statement by First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy at UNSC briefing on Ukraine
Mr.President,
Before I start, we would like to put on record our principled disagreement with the approach adopted by the Japanese Presidency towards inviting delegations to speak under Rules 37 and 39 at this meeting. They are six in total (the European Union, Italy, Poland, Romania, Estonia, and Ukraine) which is clearly too many for a briefing, which, unlike an open debate with a participation of broad membership, envisages a focused discussion.
We have already said repeatedly that the practice of turning the UNSC into a place where non-members of the Council can have their "moment of glory" and make it to the newscast of their national TV channels is vicious and undermines the authority of the Security Council. Statements by EU members add no value to the discussion. Time and again, they repeat copy-pasted talking points in line with the common position of the EU and NATO. We see no point in the participation of individual EU members, in addition to the representative of Brussels. This is a waste of time and our limited resources for interpretation and conference services, which sometimes are not enough for way more important discussions.
We regret that the Japanese Presidency, who claims to be an uncompromising advocate of Security Council's rules of procedure, seriously undermines its working practice.
Mr.President,
Today we have heard and will probably hear more anti-Russian phillipic in connection with the developments in Ukraine. In fact, our Western colleagues convene these meetings in order to "let off steam" and show to the public that the topic of Ukraine is still in the focus of the Security Council's attention.
At the same time, the allegations against us follow the same algorithm, whereby the consequences of not very skillful Ukrainian air defense are presented as the results of our precision strikes against military-related facilities of the Kiev regime. Since air defense is deployed in residential neighborhoods in violation of basic norms of IHL, which our Western colleagues persistently ignore in the best “ostrich tradition”, the debris of a small fraction of our shells, as well as Ukrainian missiles that missed their target land on residential neighborhoods. That results in killings and injuries of Ukrainian civilians. The population is well aware of this and warns that a threat is coming precisely from air defense systems, not Russian strikes.
I would like to give you a concrete example - today we have already mentioned the destruction of residential buildings in Krivoy Rog on March 12 this year. Here is how it is described in one of the most popular Ukrainian Telegram channels (the source where most Ukrainians draw their information today after the Kiev dictator has destroyed all remnants of independent media and feeds the people exclusively with "United News Telethon"): "Office of the President has launched allegations that Russian X-series missiles hit residential buildings. All sober-thinking people realize that such a missile would have wiped off a whole section of the building and caused more casualties. Most likely, the missile was hit by Ukrainian air defense and its parts fell on residential buildings. The President’s Office does not say that the missile was shot down over the city, and after that it fell on the heads of civilians. Next to the other apartment building there is a clearly visible trace of an air defense missile, any expert will tell you that. The characteristic features on the walls indicate that. Take care of yourself, because for the authorities you are just occasions for news-making". For our Western colleagues, such predictable tragedies are just an excuse for anti-Russian campaigning, so they do not seek to prevent them.
I anticipate emotional accusations against us after my words, to the effect that Russia had no right at all to strike any objects in Ukrainian cities, and if it had not done so, these tragedies would not have happened. This is wrong. But for these strikes against facilities related to the military capacity of the Kiev regime, there would be other tragedies in the cities of the eastern and south-eastern Ukraine, such as those that you turned a blind eye to for 8 years after the anti-constitutional coup in Kiev in 2014. Just as you do not notice and do not mention in your statements yesterday's strikes on Belgorod, for which the Czech VAMPIRE MLRS was again used. I remind you that the Ukrainian Nazis already used it for a strike against Belgorod on December 30, 2023, when 25 people were killed. It is a pity that the representative of the Czech Republic, which bears direct responsibility for the deaths of civilians in Russian cities, is again not present here. He has been cowardly avoiding the Security Council chamber since the end of last year. I do hope that there will be someone in the Czech Republic to demand accountability for the atrocities committed by the accomplices of Zelensky's gang. None of those who supply lethal weapons to the Kiev dictator should escape accountability. We will talk more about this during a separate meeting on the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine, which we have requested for March 22. Perhaps our Czech colleague will have the courage to appear at this meeting and explain to the people of Belgorod and also to his public why the Czech Republic is supplying Ukrainian Nazis with lethal weapons, which they are purposefully – I emphasize, purposefully – using against peaceful cities.
Let him explain this, for example, to a nine-year-old boy Zhenya, who heroically covered his nine-month-old sister during the shelling and together with her ended up in hospital with serious injuries. Or to the families of the three victims in Belgorod, who were killed yesterday in their cars.
Mr.President,
The Kiev regime is deliberately shelling peaceful towns in order to intimidate them and take revenge on those who chose to become part of Russia. This impotent bestial anger will not change anything, of course. There is at least one more reason for it. Suffering defeat and losing positions and settlements one after another, the Kiev regime seeks to distract its citizens from this grim reality. For this purpose, the regime invents virtual "victories" such as attempts by Ukrainian special forces to break into the Belgorod region. However, if anywhere, they win only on TikTok. While in real life, from March 12 to 14, the enemy's losses amounted to 1,500 saboteurs, 500 of whom were killed. 18 tanks and 23 armored fighting vehicles have been destroyed.
Ukrainian Telegram channels also mention another reason for the regime in Kiev to carry out such suicidal but high-profile raids, throwing equipment and well-trained personnel (that are extremely scarce for Kiev), "to the slaughter". The fact is that the Ukrainian dictator, who has usurped power and stifled any manifestations of dissent, becomes completely illegitimate in accordance with the Ukrainian constitution since May 21 of this year.
Vladimir Zelensky, who once came to power claiming to be a "servant of the people", single-handedly and in violation of the Constitution canceled the presidential election in his country, which was to be held this spring. Today USG DiCarlo made a strange call on us to obey Ukrainian laws in new Russian territories. Haven’t you thought of calling on Zelensky to obey Ukrainian laws?
I would like to ask a question to our Western colleagues. You have called an entire meeting of the Security Council to criticize Russia for holding democratic elections in the territory under its control, which is administratively, politically and economically part of our country, whether you like it or not. And from the point of view of your celebrated democratic standards, how would you characterize a single-handed cancellation of elections by the head of state? What would you say if, for example, Joe Biden canceled presidential elections in the United States, or Emmanuel Macron in France? Or is yet to come?
Strangely, you did not make a single comment on the cancellation of elections in Ukraine. By the same token, you carefully overlook the existence of a huge number of political prisoners in that country. This, apparently, also fits perfectly into your standards of "Ukrainian-style democracy". Again, we have not heard a word of condemnation today (in particular from our American colleague) about the fact that the Ukrainian security services tortured to death an American citizen, journalist Gonzalo Lira, in the Kharkov detention center. It is also regrettable that USG DiCarlo, while replicating blatant fakes about torture on Russian territory, did not find the courage to mention the tragic death of Gonzalo Lira, a fellow American, from torture by the Kiev regime. Neither you nor the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights are interested in such stories, are you? But let us get back to the Ukrainian dictator.
Zelensky has not yet figured out how to solve the problem of staying in power, but he has already shown ready to drown the whole country in blood and sacrifice the last Ukrainians for the sake of his goal. In order to shift the focus from this extremely uncomfortable topic, he needs high-profile provocations comparable to the provocation in Bucha. But given the fact that the provocative nature of the Kiev regime is already obvious to everyone and its "performances" fail to convince, they have been replaced with “virtual victories” and “computer breakthroughs”. And of course, they continue to blame everything on Russia. That premise has remained unchanged.
Be that as it may, there is one thing that the head of the Kiev junta can be sure of: his associates in Western capitals, who in other situations pose as defenders of democracy, in his case will ignore not only his illegitimacy, but also all his crimes and dictatorial decisions. After all, as Franklin Roosevelt, according to his memoirs, once said about the Nicaraguan dictator Somoza, "he may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch". Since then, nothing has essentially changed in American politics in such situations.
Mr.President,
With your permission, I will not comment on the impertinent attempts of interfering in my country’s internal affairs. Those who made them have exposed themselves, and it is good that their words will remain in the record of this meeting. Like it or not, the presidential election has begun in Russia today and will last for three days. It will take place in the new Russian regions too that joined our country as a result of a free expression of will in September 2022.
The voting will take place in full compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. I congratulate the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, who are choosing their future together with all of us. I should also like to congratulate the people of Crimea, who elect president for the second time already, and who ten years ago voted for their reunification with Russia.
The progress that Crimea has made during that time, the looks that it has received with more and more state-of-the-art infrastructure and social facilities, motivates our new citizens better than any words to choose a decent future for themselves and their children. All of us, citizens of the great Russia, will make our homeland even more beautiful and prosperous. I call on all my fellow citizens to go to the polling stations and make their free choice, and may the faces of our enemies and those who envy us twist in impotent anger at the thought of it. Ours is the right cause and together we will win!
Thank you.
