Statement by H.E. Ambassador Vitaly I. Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, during the Security Council Meeting on the situation in Ukraine
First of all, I am forced to note that some members of the Security Council during the today’s discussion did not put much into objectively analysing the genesis and course of the crisis in Ukraine. We categorically reject the insinuations and even threats which were addressed to Russia. We will keep to the point.
Fragile promising signals started to come from Ukraine. The fact that the Ukrainian President has announced a cease fire is an important. Without that it is impossible to agree about anything. Russia will continue its efforts.
However, the main thing is that this cease fire will become the basis for a dialogue between all the conflicting parties in finding compromisesso that the people living in the South-East of Ukraine, feel that they are an integral part of that country, and they have all the rights of nationals of that country and these rights are guaranteed, including by the constitution.
A conversation has started, although the so-called initial “Poroshenko’s plan” did not envisage any negotiations. There is no surprise that representatives of the East perceived this with caution – they have no reason to trust the Kiev authorities. For our part, we are convinced that a peace plan without practical actions and a direct negotiation process will not be viable and realistic.
From the very beginning, Russia spoke in favour of a political resolution of the crisis in Ukraine through an inclusive dialogue and the immediate organisation of constitutional reform. This was the goal of the Geneva Statement of the 17 April and the “roadmap” of the Swiss presidency of the OSCE, which was supported by us and many other states, but not Ukraine. We proposed many times to adopt the respective documents in the UNSC – from short statements in support of Geneva to the resolutions, pointing out the importance of an inclusive dialogue and resolution of humanitarian problems. Unfortunately, our initiatives always faced obstruction from our western colleagues.
Kiev has not started the disarmament of illegal armed formations, primarily militants from the Right Sector, other ultra-radicals, or of different regional military structures like Dnieper, Azov, the National Guard, whose legal foundations are questionable.
To be noted, the agreed cease fire was constantly violated. To be noted, these missiles reached the Russian territory, as a result of which there are injured and buildings were destroyed in the region of the Dolzhansky – Novoshakhtinsk checkpoints.
Nevertheless, refugees continue to leave Ukraine under gunfire. 450,000 Ukrainian nationals crossed the border and stayed in the territory of Russia. The majority of people stay with their relatives and friends. In near-border regions, there are over 220 temporary settlements, including places where camps with tents, have been deployed. There are over 19,000 persons, incl. over 5500 children living in such settlements now. However, it is already hard for the Federal and Southern districts to absorb such a flow – temporary settlements are also created in other regions. Humanitarian aid for residents of the South-East of Ukraine is being collected all over the country.
Now about another OHCHR report on the situation with human rights in Ukraine. In fact, there are no grounds for the Security Council to discuss it. The observer mission was formed by the decision of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in accordance with the invitation of the Ukrainian authorities. The SC did not give orders to prepare reports. Therefore, it is absolutely logical that the report is not presented to the Council.
As to the Russian Federation, we did not send any invitations to or request any recommendations of itself from the mission. We believe that their inclusion is not appropriate. The topic of human rights in Crimea was not a subject matter of the report. Along with that, we perceive as a nonsense the Mission’s inability – under the pretext of “no access” - to provide an assessment of Kiev’s actions, which stopped water supplies in Crimea. At the same time, “no access” did not prevent politically motivated statements being made about the deteriorating situation of Crimeans.
Thus, the document contains several references to the “messages” about violations of human rights on behalf of armed groups in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions. But why then are the numerous messages, including from residents of the regions and journalists, as well as video materials about artillery shooting at residential regions in cities of the South-East and victims among peaceful civilians as a result of non-elective use of force ignored?
The report includes a small mention of the episode in which helicopters with UN markings are mentioned in the Propaganda section. However, nothing is mentioned about the essence of the question. At the same time, to understand the situation on the spot, we just need to obtain assurance regarding what the state of these helicopters was, which were earlier provided by Ukraine for UN operations, and were they really repainted. This should have been done - with money being allocated from the relevant UN budget.
Detainment, threats and the beating of journalists continues. The detention of two Zvezda correspondents on the 14 June, whom Ukrainian forces were beating fiercely, wishing to obtain some confessions from them, added to the cases reflected in the report. And representatives of the Ukrainian authorities later boasted that they apologized for their reports. Messages about persecution of journalists for carrying out their rightful jobs, as well as their deportation from the country, continue to come in.
In general, we are forced to state that the report disrupts trust to the OHCHR and raises serious issues regarding the appropriateness of continuing the work of the mission.
