Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by representative of the Russian Federation Mr.Sergei Leonidchenko at UNSC meeting in relation with the consideration of the report of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on the investigation of the situation in Darfur

Mr. President, 

We commend Mr. Khan for presenting the report. We regret that the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court once again failed to meet the set deadlines and submitted a report a month late. It is not entirely clear how this correlates with the pledge to pay special attention to the subjects referred to the ICC by the Security Council.

Despite the delay, we did not see in the report any progress in the investigation of the situation in Darfur. The beginning of the first trial of one of the accused persons, 17 years after the Council referred the situation to the Court, can hardly be regarded as a breakthrough. Apparently, the ICC, which receives millions of dollars of financial and organizational “assistance” from Western states to investigate the Ukrainian dossier, currently has completely different priorities. Such infatuation with Ukraine is completely incomprehensible to us. There are other serious issues on the Court's agenda that have stagnated for years or have intentionally been "swept under the rug." 

Last month, the BBC journalists published evidence of the involvement of the British military in 50 incidents of killings of civilians in 2010-2011 in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. The ICC, as you know, has jurisdiction over this situation. The ability of the United Kingdom’s judicial system to independetnly bring the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to justice is highly questionable. More than 10 years have passed since then, and yet we still see a pattern that is typical for all unprovoked, unjustified aggressive wars of the collective West: there are numerous victims among the civilian population however, no one to blame are among the NATO military.

It would seem that in this situation, the ICC simply could stand aside, when it should be guided by the task of ensuring justice for the victims. At the same time, Great Britain itself, of course, would provide the Court with all possible assistance in bringing those responsible to accountability, and other Western countries would certainly allocate no less funds to this investigation than to the Ukrainian dossier. 

Unfortunately, the reality is quite different. 

Western countries present themselves as zealots for justice when it comes to Russia. However, in the case of the crimes commited by their own military, they do everything they can to avoid responsibility. They use excuses, evasions, bureaucratic red tape, specialized protective legislation, sanctions and threats. 

The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC spares no time or effort on the Ukrainian dossier, even to the detriment of other cases however, was not particularly zealous in investigating the crimes of British and American military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. The new Prosecutor of the Court completely “de-prioritized” the relevant proceedings. In other words, the investigation has been suspended. It is unlikely that the sensational revelations of the BBC will change anything. 

The entire history of the ICC reaffirms the fact that, as soon as it comes to holding the military from Western countries accountable, fighting imputiny becomes completely unnecessary and even dangerous. The double standards that have become common practice for the Court cast doubt on its ability to bring justice and facilitate a sustainable reconciliation process in Sudan or in any other situation.

Mr. President, 

At one of the previous meetings, Mr. Khan quoted the words of his late father, who was indeed a very wise man: "If you point a finger at someone, they will point back at you with three fringers." This statement is also true for those who like to point fingers at my country. The only difference is that all those present in this Chamber hardly have enough fingers on both hands to point out all the sins of these self-proclaimed zealots of justice. 

Thank you.