Statement by Ambassador Vassily A. Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, at the Security Council meeting on the Sudan and South Sudan
The Russian delegation abstained in the voting on resolution 2418 (2018), on extending sanctions against South Sudan.
We are concerned by the security situation in the country and by the fact that, despite the December 2017 agreement, there has been continuing fighting in the country.
We call on the South Sudanese parties to quickly find a compromise solution in the interests of the entire South Sudanese population. Nonetheless, we believe that it is wrong-headed to threaten the introduction of sanctions against those high-ranking individuals who were involved in the negotiation process at an important moment for the completion of the latest round of the HighLevel Revitalization Forum on the peace agreement, sponsored by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
We are of the view that the Forum currently represents a unique arena in the attempt to find a political solution to the conflict in South Sudan. We therefore believe that it is important to provide genuine support to IGAD’s mediation efforts. We think the imposition of artificial timelines or deadlines for the negotiation process, or measures adopted that conflict with positions expressed by regional players, is unacceptable.
On the whole, we continue to doubt that the introduction of sanctions against members of the Government and an arms embargo on South Sudan could play a positive role in reaching a political settlement and normalizing the situation from a security point of view. During the course of work on a new sanctions draft resolution in July, we will also proceed from the position that it is unacceptable to have any preordained stance on broadening sanctions.
Finally, we categorically reject what we believe to be the penholders’ damaging and disrespectful position towards their colleagues in the Security Council, once again imposing a too-strict time frame on the Council, which is simply unacceptable when taking such farreaching decisions on sanctions under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.
