Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing on Western arms deliveries to Ukraine
Mr.President,
At the outset, in our national capacity we would like to extend our deepest condolences to the government and the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran with regard to the huge tragedy that befell this country – a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and several other prominent state officials.
As the President of Russia said in his message, “Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi was an outstanding politician whose entire life was devoted to serving his Motherland. He enjoyed the well-deserved respect of his compatriots and high prestige beyond his country. As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good neighborly relations between our countries and made great efforts to advance them to the level of strategic partnership”.
Mr.President,
A few days ago, our Western colleagues gathered us in this room to depict the suffering of the people of Ukraine, who found themselves without food and energy because of Russian air strikes on infrastructure facilities in Ukrainian cities. All of this was accompanied by panegyrics to the Zelensky regime, which is allegedly fighting for the freedom and independence of the country and enjoys the support of the population.
The moment we gathered here for that meeting, the US Secretary of State, A.Blinken, was dashingly singing and dancing in a nightclub in Kiev having treated himself to some pizza in a nearby pizzeria, where the walls were decorated with neo-Nazi symbols and photographs. The takeaway is that our Western colleagues lied to us again, because, after more than two years since the start of our special military operation, Ukraine clearly has both food and energy. It has neo-Nazis too, which Kiev's leaders are not going to fight if they choose to invite the American guest to such an establishment. And since the guest accepted the invitation, he clearly intends to continue to indulge them.
Colleagues, what if I told you that these are not the only aspects related to Ukraine on which Western representatives consistently lie or understate. I will give you a number of other telling examples.
For several weeks now, those in the West who stand for continuation of Kiev’s hostilities with Russia, have been rejoicing at the allocation of the long-awaited large military aid package from the United States to the Zelensky regime. Ukraine will indeed get some of it, and high-ranking local corrupt officials are already in anticipation, but the lion's share of the funds will be spent in the United States itself, and American officials do not even hide it.
In particular, according to Pentagon Chief L. Austin, about 50 % of the $61 billion-worth tranche allocated in April will be invested in the US military industry. Let us add one more touch to this statement, which he kept silent about. In order to scale-up profits, the largest arms manufacturers (RTX Corp., Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamic) raised prices for their products by almost 6 % a couple of weeks before the military aid package was approved.
The capitalization of Western military corporations has been growing at an unprecedented rate since the beginning of the conflict. The undoubted leader here is Germany's Rheinmetall, controlled by the American investment company BlackRock. Since February 2022, its capitalization has increased by 547%.
Don't believe us? Then listen to the Ukrainian ringleader. Here's what he said about the new US tranche in a recent interview with ABC TV: “This money is not given to Ukraine. This money is spent on American factories, creating jobs in the United States.” Besides, it is obvious to military experts that there is no such “Wunderwaffe” that the West can hand over to Ukraine to reverse the extremely negative trends on the battlefield for the Ukrainian armed forces. Not so long ago, Western Russophobes welcomed the transfer of long-range ATACMS missiles by the Americans, which Russian air defense systems shoot down by the dozen today. We destroy them just like the praised Leopards and Abrams tanks. The same fate will befall the F-16s as soon as the Kiev regime gets hold of them.
Against this backdrop, the NATO sponsors of Zelensky's clique occasionally lose their nerve, because by supplying arms to Ukraine, NATO countries systematically violate their international legal obligations under the treaties to which they are parties. Thus, the International Arms Trade Treaty requires exporter states to do an objective risk assessment to see if supplied weapons may end up being used in violation of IHL norms. The ATT prohibits transfers if there is reliable information about the recipient's intention to use the weapons against civilian objects. It is precisely these crimes that the Bandera junta is committing by shelling Belgorod, Donbass and other Russian regions on a regular basis. The West is strikingly blind in such cases, and in addition to that it also openly authorizes attacks on Russian facilities. This already affects the sentiment of Western voters, although Washington, London and Brussels are trying to blame it on “Russia's pernicious influence”.
The truth is that since 2014, Washington and its allies have been having Ukraine as a lab guinea pig. They have set a task of growing it into something that would annoy Russia and, ideally, hinder our development.
The key part of the transformation of this guinea pig was pumping weapons into Ukraine under the guise of the Minsk Agreements and brainwashing it in a Russophobic, nationalistic and neo-Nazi spirit. The American authorities and their comrades-in-arms have succeeded in that, for the guinea pig has grown aggressive and reckless. But no matter how hard the Western puppeteers try, a guinea pig cannot grow into another, more powerful animal. So as soon as this lab sample had exhausted its potential, they simply wrote it off. Now their task is to make more money off it, to dispose of as many old weapons as possible and test as many new ones as they can.
Colleagues, this is the bitter truth of what is happening to Ukraine now. That is why Ukrainians are being caught in the streets by the thousands and thrown into this senseless grinder. It is only the Western puppeteers of Ukraine (who prevented Ukraine from concluding an acceptable peace treaty in March-April 2022) and the Maidan leaders (who have betrayed the interests of their homeland and whose senior will lose even formal legitimacy tomorrow) who want to keep this grinder working. Today, they are leading Ukraine to a complete and unconditional collapse.
Mr.President,
Those who really care about Ukraine and Ukrainians are persistently trying to find an effective way to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. I think they took note of the words of Mr. Borrell's from the “beautiful European garden” that if the West stops pumping arms to the Kiev regime, the conflict in Ukraine will be over in two weeks’ time. Well spotted it is. No matter how much the Western sponsors of Kiev try to present their assistance as a contribution to Ukraine's self-defense, it is obvious to any unbiased and sober-minded onlooker that without their malicious interference, the conflict would have ended long ago, or rather would not have started at all. After all, Russia and Ukraine are brotherly nations, and they will remain so after the puppet regime in Kiev ceases to exist. It is no coincidence that millions of Ukrainians have fled to Russia and feel completely safe in our country.
Esteemed colleagues,
It is important that those of you realize this, who try to take efforts towards a diplomatic settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. We have never given up on diplomacy, unlike the leader of Kiev, who has also legally banned himself from any negotiations with Russia. Since (as recognized by the Western and Ukrainian press) today is the last day of his legitimate stay in power in accordance with the Constitution of his country, any possible mediators should take this into account, because it simply makes no sense to discuss whatever issues, let alone sign documents, with leaders who have lost their legitimacy.
Besides, any potential negotiations should proceed from a faithful consideration of Russia's security concerns and the new territorial realities. The pseudo-peace conference in Switzerland scheduled for June is a continuation of previous failed meetings in Copenhagen, Jeddah, Malta and Davos, and has no added value whatsoever. The discussion at this meeting will build on top of Zelensky’s so-called “peace formula” – the fact that representative of the Kiev regime confirmed to us at the Security Council meeting last week. The Kiev leader makes no secret that the main objective of the meeting is to develop an ultimatum that is detached from reality and that they will subsequently try to impose on our country. Of course, all these efforts will be futile.
The West is now actively soliciting countries of the Global South to attend these gatherings in order to portray their participation as “comprehensive support for Kiev”. We will sure hear similar appeals today. Make no mistake: the devious plan of the event's sponsors is to offer guests a supposedly “non-confrontational” agenda, emphasizing nuclear and food security, freedom of navigation, detainee and prisoner exchange, and the return of children. And then their participation in the event will be presented as an alleged support for a point-blank ultimatum to Russia.
Switzerland's efforts to present itself as a neutral mediator also look frankly strange. We are well aware that Bern has long forsaken its impartiality, having joined all of the European Union's sanctions packages against Russia and openly supporting the Kiev clique.
Colleagues, leaving aside all these futile efforts by the Western sponsors of Zelensky’s regime, a genuine settlement of the Ukrainian crisis through political and diplomatic means is still possible. It requires that the West stop arming the Bandera regime in Kiev. And that Ukraine should return to its neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear status, get demilitarized and denazified. And that the rights of its Russian-speaking citizens and national minorities be fully upheld. In other words, it requires that the root causes that provoked our special military operation get eliminated.
If Bern and its allies were interested in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict, they would propose these very issues for discussion at the conference. However, they are still under the illusion that they can defeat Russia on the battlefield with the hands of the Ukrainians. In this, they err themselves, and the Russian troops are proving this on the battlefield. I hope that all of you realize that there will be no lasting peace without addressing the root cause of the Ukrainian conflict. We are ready to work with anyone who shares this position and who does not want to be responsible, together with the collective West and the Zelensky regime, for the senseless destruction of tens of thousands of Ukrainians who do not want to continue fighting.
Thank you.
Right of reply by First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy:
Mr.President,
To illustrate the level or credibility of data just cited by the representative of the Kiev regime, I will say that according to the recent polls, only 17 % of the people of Ukraine share this view as regards the legitimacy of their president. Besides, the government of Ukraine did not turn to the Constitutional Court on that matter out of fear that the outcome may not be as anticipated.
But let me make it clear again that the legitimacy (or illegitimacy) of Mr.Zelensky does not influence the course and the goals of our special military operation.
Thank you.
