Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia after the Vote on Russian Draft Resolution on Venezuela
Mr. President,
We deeply regret, that the Security Council has been dragged in this political show again.
The draft resolution proposed by the US delegation was designed to change the regime under the guise of taking care of the people. We have seen all this in case of Libya, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.
We have already adopted a resolution on Libya that was unscrupulously used to start bombings and carry out a savage regime change. We all know what it ended in. Where is Libya now? What has been done to it? What has happened to African countries, where the terrorist international spread from Libya?
Washington and London have again robbed an entire nation of billions of dollars. Now they enforce handouts and demand a regime change in return. You first create immense humanitarian problems, then urge the world to solve them.
We were forced to use the veto right, because the US draft does not aim at solving Venezuela’s problems. We proposed an alternative draft resolution that could have helped the Venezuelans solve their problems on their own, without external interference.
Today many delegates were saying that Venezuela should hold elections as soon as possible. Whether to hold elections or not – this should be decided by the Venezuelans. Do not decide for them. Dialogue – this is what matters, whereas you prefer to burn bridges, both literally and figuratively. Our document expressed support for the Montevideo Mechanism. However it seems that dialogue and mediation is not what Washington and the supporters strive to achieve.
The UK representative started same old song that we already know: the Russian draft did not pass, and US draft was vetoed. Actually, this is why this whole combination was enacted. Tomorrow media will be trumpeting this, and no one will ever mention that our draft was “killed”. Same used to happen before. We know and remember it. This has been done on purpose, and this is why you undermine the Council’s unity. We have been talking about it here, and not once. Seven Members of the Security Council voted against our draft resolution. All of them are, to some extent connected by bloc discipline as part of one or another group. However, those who support not even Venezuela, but the international law, are much more numerous. There are at least 60 of them. The recent meeting on Venezuela that we held confirmed this. The majority of them are present in this room.
Today’s vote is a vivid example of why there is the veto right. Veto is needed to protect peace and the right of peoples to be masters of their fate. Today’s meeting proved that without veto the Council itself would have risked to turn into a threat to peace and security. Good thing it has not happened.
