Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing on Western arms deliveries to Ukraine
Mme.President,
Somehow, I do not spot here our colleagues from the European Union who usually rush to inscribe on speakers’ lists of meetings on Ukraine that convene at the request of our Western partners.
The Kiev regime started to be pumped full with Western weapons at least 10 years ago. At first, this was done secretly, under the cover of the Minsk Agreements, and the corresponding Western activity was not publicized and was even denied. Now, however, all this has come to the surface and is not even concealed. Thanks to high-profile journalist investigations, we have learned that immediately after the anti-constitutional coup in Kiev in 2014, CIA deployed in Ukraine an extensive network of intelligence centers located right on the Russian borders.
Once the special military operation began, this (at least very provocative) activity started to be presented as a noble cause in defiance of elementary logic. Sure enough, what’s wrong with arming one state against its neighbor for years and indulging its openly hostile course against it? After all, this is a usual tactic of colonizers, who for decades have pitted neighboring peoples in Africa, Asia and Latin America against each other, armed them and profited from their wars. They did not invent anything new in the 21st century. Today Ukraine is their victim and Russia is their target. This is the real background of the Ukrainian crisis, which assumed a hot phase in February 2022.
We explained many times why we had to start the special military operation. Whoever wanted to hear us has heard us, whoever does not want to will never do. However, even our Western colleagues now use the word "unprovoked" in relation to our actions way less frequently. Given what we have learned and seen over the past two-plus years about the Western role in the Ukrainian tragedy, such statements simply do not stand up to scrutiny. In fact, today the collective West has completely different concerns, the main of which is to keep afloat the Zelensky clique, which is rapidly losing power in the country and suffering an obvious military defeat. Zelensky already squandered whatever weapons, equipment and ammunition he had. Even though it becomes increasingly difficult for Western sponsors to help him and turn a blind eye to his doings, Western weapons are still flowing in. At the same time, Western elites find it more and more problematic keeping silent about the rampant corruption in Ukraine, the lack of control and accountability of the supplied equipment and ammunition and, consequently, the serious risks of their falling in the hands of terrorists. To overshadow this ugly truth they allege that arms supplies help Ukraine defend its independence in the face of Russian aggression.
Is it really so? What is it that today's Ukraine (which the West has been molding into an "anti-Russia" for 10 years now) really wants? We all remember how exactly two years ago, after organizing an inhumane and utterly deceitful provocation in Bucha, Ukraine rejected – under pressure from its Western masters – its best chance at peace since Zelensky had trampled on the Minsk Agreements. Western sponsors assured the Kiev regime that with their support and weapons Ukraine could defeat Russia. The Kiev leader remained under this delusion until recently. But by this moment, he too has changed his rhetoric, saying that Ukraine will lose without Western weapons and more visible intervention. Following up on that, the West has also redrafted its goals. Now the goal is to "keep Russia from winning." I go into this detail to illustrate the conclusion of many experts that it is Western arms supplies that keep the Ukrainian conflict from ending with peace. This is what our briefer, Ms. Karen Kwiatkowski just spoke about.
If Ukraine wanted peace, it would have achieved it long ago. Our justified and reasonable demands to our neighbor, which stand at the core of the SMO, are well known, and Ukraine is perfectly able to meet them without compromising its sovereignty and statehood. The fact that Germany had to part with Nazism and Japan - with militarism did not make these states disappear. So why can't Ukraine do this, while ceasing to discriminate against the Russian language and its speakers, in strict accordance with European values?
The answer to this question is very simple. Washington, London and Brussels do not need a Ukraine, which would be friends with Russia. It is not for that ending that they have been investing in it for the past 10 years.
As a result, while losing on the battlefield, Ukraine is turning into an openly terrorist state, and I would like to elaborate on this.
We have said on many occasions that Ukrainian armed forces attack civilian objects inside Russia thanks to supplies of Western-made artillery and long-range rockets. In the first three months of this year, the UAF fired 22,000 rounds of ammunition, which killed 201 civilians. But you are not going to find any information about this in Western media or even hear a word of condemnation from our Western colleagues in this chamber. Suffice it to recall the targeted shelling of peaceful areas of Belgorod from Czech-supplied MRLS that occurred on New Year's Eve. That did not cause any criticism in the West.
But Ukraine wants more, and so it has turned to the tactic of terrorist attacks. This is how the Kiev leadership tries to divert public attention from the disastrous situation of Ukrainian troops on the frontline, and also to prove to Western masters its ability to harm Russia.
Everyone is aware of such crimes of the Kiev regime as the murders of journalist Darya Dugina, and warzone correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky, the bombing of the Crimean Bridge, and the downing of an airplane carrying Ukrainian PoWs.
However, the heinous terrorist attack on March 22 in the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk (Moscow Region) takes a special place in this series of crimes. Today I would like to share with you the preliminary results of investigation. Let me underscore the main point. Already at this stage, there is no doubt about the direct involvement of Ukraine in this horrendous and ruthless crime. The tracks of those who ordered it, as we can reasonably assert, lead to Kiev.
I will recover the timeline for you. On March 22, a Russian rock band was to perform at the Crocus City Hall. Four terrorists carrying firearms broke into the building right before the performance at 19:58. On their way to the music venue, they cold-bloodedly shot innocent people who had come to the event, firing at them point-blank. After they made it to the music venue, they set the seats on fire and continued shooting indiscriminately. After 13 minutes, they escaped leaving behind some of the weapons. As a result of the attack 137 people died instantly, 7 more died later in hospitals, more than 500 were injured. Having escaped from the scene, the perpetrators tried to get to the Ukrainian border, but were promptly detained within a few hours. They pleaded guilty at the interrogation and said that they were promised a million rubles each for committing the terrorist attack. At the moment, proceedings on this case identified 11 persons involved in this crime.
Immediately, irrefutable facts were revealed, testifying to the "Ukrainian trace", to the undeniable connection of the terrorists with Ukrainian secret services. In particular, according to the testimony of the perpetrators, they were supposed to reach the state border in the Bryansk Region, after which they were to burn down the vehicle in the woods and report to their contact, who would ensure their passage to Ukrainian territory and on to Kiev. By the way, the perpetrators of the murders of Darya Dugina and Vladlen Tatarsky were supposed to use a similar escape scheme.
The investigation also gained access to data from the suspects' cell phones, which contained information incriminating Ukrainian security services. The investigation also has at its disposal confirmed data that perpetrators of the attack received significant amounts of money and cryptocurrency from Ukraine, which were used in the preparation of the crime.
Moreover, there is evidence that the Kiev regime has been cooperating with and using Islamist radicals for a long time. We also know for a fact that the Ukrainian embassy in Dushanbe recruits mercenaries who are willing to join the International Legion. The perpetrators of the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall and their accomplices are also mainly of Tajik origin.
In connection with these facts, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has transmitted to the Ukrainian authorities demands under the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism for the immediate arrest and extradition of all persons involved in these terrorist acts.
Colleagues,
What’s worth a special notice is that just an hour after this horrific tragedy, Washington and a number of other Western capitals began to vehemently deny Kiev's involvement in the terrorist attack. This was done even before the preliminary results of the investigation arrived and at a time when no charges had yet been brought against Ukraine. Immediately afterwards, Ukraine also preemptively rushed to "reject any alleged involvement," and Zelensky and his cohorts blamed the Russian authorities for the incident. "It's not us," they always say. "It's not us shelling the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, it's not us bombing peaceful neighborhoods of Russian cities. It's them, it's Russia, it's a false flag operation." A greater sacrilege than this is hard to imagine.
What happened next was utterly incomprehensible. Washington and its closest allies, (who still can't find those responsible for the Nord Stream blasts in September 2022 that happened right under their noses) began to impose on everyone, with insistence and extreme nervousness, the narrative that it was ISIL who stood behind the attack. Soon a video appeared in which its Afghan cell, “Wilayat Khorasan”, claimed responsibility for what had happened. Of course, this was immediately disseminated by Western media as the only credible version.
Despite the indisputable evidence of the involvement of the Kiev regime, they are still trying to convince us that Kiev never ordered this terrorist attack, and that it was committed exclusively by supporters of radical Islamic ideology. Perhaps someone really wants us to believe this, however there is a number of significant inconsistencies. First of all, mere recognition by ISIL of its involvement does not speak of their real responsibility. ISIL already tried to take credit for "the merits of others" before, apparently in an attempt to reassert itself as an influential player. For example, in 2017, ISIL claimed responsibility for the explosion of a locker in a grocery store in St. Petersburg. However, it soon turned out that the explosion was carried out by a mentally unstable person who was not affiliated with Islamists. Secondly, there is a discrepancy in modus operandi. Radical Islamists do not commit crimes for money, but are guided by their worldview and beliefs, no matter how inhumane they may be. In doing so, they do not try to save themselves and usually act as suicide attackers. After all, as a reward for their deeds and death as martyrs, the recruiters promise them paradise and eternal bliss. In the case of Crocus City Hall, we see that the criminals cowardly tried to escape and hoped to live off the reward. It does not take an expert to see that they are not radical extremists. On top of that, the above video was clearly made by amateurs, who have no idea about Islam or Islamist narrative.
Against the backdrop of such fierce attempts to "deflect the blame" onto ISIL and protect Kiev at any cost regardless the outcomes of the investigation, the question of the involvement of Western intelligence services in the preparation of this terrorist attack remains open. Especially since, shortly before March 22, Embassies of a number of Western countries published recommendations for their citizens to avoid visiting crowded places in Moscow, in particular concert halls. Questions also arise in view of the information about close cooperation between the CIA and British intelligence with the Security Service of Ukraine, which SBU leaders have repeatedly bragged about. We look forward to receiving answers to all these questions that should lift our concerns.
In particular, the Investigative Committee of Russia has revealed that the money for organizing terrorist attacks on our territory came through commercial companies, including the oil and gas company “Burisma Holdings”, which has been operating in Ukraine and where the well-known Hunter Biden has been Board member since 2014. We trust that our American colleagues will give us all the necessary clarifications on this matter.
We also trust that our Western colleagues will cooperate with us in catching those who ordered the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall and bringing them to justice. As well as punishing those responsible for the terrorist attacks against Nord Stream, which all our colleagues have unequivocally condemned (as well as the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall).
Mme.President,
The Kiev regime is clearly not going to abandon its terrorist nature. Thus, the other day we prevented a sacrilegious attempt to import to Russia 27 IEDs camouflaged as Orthodox icons and church utensils. The total weight of the explosives that Russian border services found during the inspection amounted to 70 kilograms of hexogen. That's enough to destroy a five-story building. It is frightening to think what could have happened if it had not been for the highly professional work of the FSB. Kiev's acts of terror against Russia and the existence of such plots were openly and repeatedly announced by the head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, K. Budanov, and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, V. Malyuk.
Summing up, I would like to say the following to our Western colleagues. In your Russophobic frenzy and while indulging the Kiev regime, you raised a monster. Its activity is no longer limited to Ukraine, where Zelensky’s clique, having usurped power and suppressed dissent, is committing lawlessness against its own citizens, openly mocking the memory of the victims of German Nazism and glorifying its accomplices. His terrorist tentacles already stretch outside Ukraine, and if problems connected to it emerge in Russia today, it does not mean that tomorrow they will not emerge somewhere else, because the Ukrainian leader has already lost touch with reality and is no longer capable of adequate judgement. In a fit of impotent anger caused by inability to turn the tide on the frontline and imminent defeat, your "Frankenstein" may turn on you at any moment. You have supplied enough weapons and equipment for that.
Not to mention the fact that by destroying itself, this "Frankenstein" is dragging you and what remains of your reputation to the bottom. Just remember the prophetic words of the Polish President that he said last September at the UNGA High Level Segment.
The sooner you realize this and contain your Ukrainian clients, the better for you. It is a matter of months, if not weeks.
Thank you.
