Remarks by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at the Security Council "Arria-formula" meeting in a follow-up to the "Arria-formula" discussion of March 12, 2021 on the situation in Crimea
Dear colleagues,
Our today’s meeting is a direct follow-up to the discussion of March 12, organized by our Ukrainian and Western counterparts.
We made an honest attempt to avoid two separate meetings by proposing to expand the list of briefers to include those who have actually been residing on the Peninsula throughout last seven years after its reunification with Russia. However, the organizers of the discussion last Friday opted to stick to their well-known politicized approach refusing without any explanation to provide the floor to those who would have all the reasons to question the credibility of statements and could have refuted the false allegations on the situation in Crimea. We regret that our Ukrainian and Estonian colleagues choose not to participate in today's meeting.
Without commenting the politicized Arria meeting of last week, I just want to stress that the briefers invited by the organizers were carefully chosen to create a distorted picture and false impression of the situation on the Peninsula. Even the UN representative, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ms.Ilze Brands Kehris, allowed herself to rely in her statement on one-sided information from biased sources. We stress the unacceptability for the UN Secretariat staff to make judgment on compliance by UN Member States with the norms of international law, including humanitarian law – the status of UN Staff should at all times remain unbiased. We call on the Secretary-General to draw necessary conclusions from the above-mentioned fact not to allow further deterioration of the UN authority.
Contrary to the last week event, the persons we invited today represent various communities of the multinational Peninsula. They have first-hand knowledge of what is really happening (or not happening) on the ground. That’s why we suggested them to follow the discussion of March 12 remotely so they could present their own judgment of the allegations made.
I want to attract your attention to the statement (forwarded yesterday to the President of the Security Council) by the International Association “The Friends of Crimea”, which unites representatives from around 30 countries of Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America who fight against injustice, racism and Nazism in the name of peace. No wonder that this organization is now being targeted by various Ukrainian ultra-right groups.
In particular, in their statement members of this group, who regularly visit Crimea, and have the opportunity to see with their own eyes the real situation call on all the critics to come to the Peninsula personally to get a comprehensive and truthful information. Russia can only welcome and extend such a call.
Allow me now to welcome our briefers, as well as professors and students of the Crimean Engineering and Pedagogic University, alongside with its rector, Mr. Chingiz Yaqubov. For our convenience they assembled in one lecture room and all of them would be pleased to take your questions and make comments. Also together with us are Ms. Anastasia Gridchina, Head of the Ukrainian Community of Crimea; Mr. Roman Chegrinets, the Head of the Crimean regional national-cultural autonomy “Belarusians of Crimea”; Ms. Ludmila Radeva, Vice Chair of the regional Bulgarian national-cultural autonomy of Crimea “Paisius of Helindar”; Ms. Vera Pautova, Head of educational Center for Children and Youth creativity.
Following the statement by the representative of France:
I fully share the view that the people of Crimea deserves respect. But if they deserve respect, I wonder why this inhumane policy of non-visa issuance was introduced against them. On Crimean Tatars - I think that they should listen to the Crimean Tatars themselves. They are present today at our meeting and they will have a chance to speak out. And on the visits to Crimea. We are inviting everyone, including yourself, Nicola, to visit and see with your own eyes what is violated or not there.
Following the statement by the representative of the UK:
I must confess that what I hear today from in particular our Western speakers does not differ very much. In fact, it is the same thing that we heard during the meeting on March 12th, where we participated. I urge you to take into account that we have real people from Crimea, to whom you could also, besides stating your positions, pose questions and ask them about their opinion on the situation. I hope they will have a chance to speak out on this later.
Following the statement by the representative of Germany:
I have a feeling that you have been missing the podium for a long time. We will definitely take into account your broad exposé on so many issues, except for Crimea.
We have learned dialectics from the great German philosophers, including Hegel. He was the master of dialectics. Of course, we have learnt from him a lot. We have been engaging in dialogue on the Budapest memorandum many times over, and indeed, we circulated it at a certain point as the document of the Security Council. But somehow we didn’t touch upon the origins of the Budapest memorandum and all its contents, because the contents of the Budapest Memorandum are not limited to the issue that you are referring to all the time.
I will not dwell upon every aspect of your statement, including on Navalny, the data on whom the German authorities continue to hide away and not to provide to Russia despite numerous requests by our Prosecutor General. We have requested it incessantly for five or six times. I will not dwell upon the facts of the Security Service of Ukraine about Girkin, which was already many times over dismissed. I also must notice, you referred today to the referendum in Ukraine in 1991, but you missed another referendum that had taken place in Crimea in 1991, which had recognized its autonomous status. Ukraine stripped it off in 1995, depriving the Crimeans of the choice they had made.
I welcome your intention to join the Group of friends of the UN Charter where perhaps they will teach you another principle of the UN Charter, which is called the right to self-determination. It is in the beginning of the Charter.
Closing remarks:
I should be wrapping up now. Of course, I will respond to what Christoph was saying. If there were an illegal coup d'état in Russia, then perhaps certain parts of Russia would be willing to consider things that happened in Ukraine after the illegal coup d'état of 2014.But I can hardly imagine a situation like that. It won't happen.
By the way, I never saw Chinese maps, where Vladivostok was a part of China. At least, current and modern maps of China or Russia. I think that today Russia is your legitimate target. You could you blame us, make allegations, convince yourselves as to what we did right or wrong. But I think China should be spared, at least for today.
By the way, I read in the news that Ukrainian Ambassador in Berlin, Germany, said that it was the obligation of Germany to return Crimea to Ukraine. I think you should consider that seriously as well. I wonder what he meant by it and what actions he was demanding from you to achieve it. I'm doubtful they will be successful. But that's a telling story, and a stunning story as well. Also, please read the reasoning that he put behind that. I will not cite it here.
Dear colleagues,
It was really a very interesting and useful meeting. And I thank all the briefers for their passionate and sincere accounts of life in today's Crimea.
I also thank all my colleagues who participated and asked questions and made comments today. Cristoph you in particular, I mean it sincerely. I appreciate that you stayed with us throughout until the end. And I'm sure it is appreciated by the Crimeans themselves. The guitar. Perhaps we should teach you a couple of guitar lessons. I could provide some. I used to do when I was younger – just a few chords that you could play when the guitar is presented.
We wanted to give an account of how ordinary citizens of Crimea live and feel today. I also regret that our Western colleagues clearly missed this golden opportunity, turning sometimes a deaf ear to what was said by Crimeans and, unfortunately, repeating their mantras about the Russian aggression and occupation. I also regret that our Ukrainian colleagues were not with us today. Unfortunately for Ukraine, it lost Crimea seven years ago through its own mistakes. The most grave thing was that they were not listening to what the population of Crimea wanted.
The Ukrainian authorities are repeating this mistake now in Donbass. Instead of helping Kiev to draw lessons and conclusions from this, our Western colleagues make things even worse, encouraging Ukraine to follow the same suicidal paths of nationalism, xenophobia and russophobia. This inevitably will backfire sooner or later. We all understand this.
To conclude, I would like to address my compatriots, especially those living in Crimea. Tomorrow, we will all celebrate seven years of their historic choice to reunite with Russia. By doing so, they realized their right to self-determination provided by the UN Charter and safeguarded peaceful and prosperous future for their children. Whether our Western colleagues like it or not, the future of Crimea and Crimeans is with Russia. Unfortunately, they cannot comprehend it, this point escapes them all the time when they discuss this subject.
We as Russia, we simply could not betray the Crimeans and their aspirations in 2014, despite and beyond whatever sanctions. We will continue to promote uncensored, untampered and undistorted information about life in Crimea, bring there those who want to know first-hand information about how Crimea lives and develops. And if someone wants to continue to believe in fairy tales and horror stories, it's your choice, we can't help. As I said, the doors to Crimea are wide open. You are all welcome to visit it.
We thank participants from Crimea and those from the delegations who came to this Arria-formula meeting. I also want to thank the interpreters who did a great job today.
