Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement and the Right of Reply by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation Vassily Nebenzia on the UNSC Resolution 2202

Madam President,

We are grateful for the support of our initiative to hold today's meeting on a topic that is of great importance to European security. We thank the speakers for their assessments. We welcome Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Kyslytsya at today's meeting. As far as we understand, soon we will see each other more often here in New York. We look forward to constructive cooperation.

Madam President,

Yesterday marked five years since the adoption of SC resolution 2202, which approved the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements. Thus, that document has become binding as part of the international law.

Unfortunately, not everyone remembers this. Thus, during the Council's discussion of cooperation with the OSCE on 6 February, it turned out that the members of the Council who have significant influence on the settlement process in Ukraine, including the participants in the "Normandy format", prefer not to recall what is written in the aforementioned resolution and Package of measures. They cover up their forgetfulness with a meaningless "mantra" that Russia is not fulfilling its obligations under the package of measures. It is very disappointing that over five years our Western partners, who once supported the anti-constitutional Maidan coup d'etat with its blatant russophobia and nationalism, never bothered to learn that the parties to "Minsk" are not Russia and Ukraine, but Ukraine and the republics of Donbass.

However, even more alarming is that Kiev has recently sharply intensified the rhetoric that calls into question the Minsk Agreements. Thus, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called our initiative to hold today's meeting a "trick of Russian diplomacy" aimed at creating a "parallel political reality". And I would like to remind you, it is only a year ago, on February 12, at a similar SC meeting, when the then Ukrainian Permanent Representative, Mr. Yelchenko, expressed his gratitude to the President of the Security Council for the opportunity to participate in the meeting, I quote, “on an extremely important issue”.

Many Ukrainian top-officials tend to sabotage the Minsk Agreements, and openly contradict the political will to resolve the conflict, declared by President V. Zelensky in Paris. The will alone, however, is not enough; concrete steps are needed.

Just in recent days we have heard from Mr. Kryvonos, Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, that the Armed Forces of Ukraine "should be ready for the liberation of Donbass territories by force. And Defense Minister Mr. Zagorodniuk opposed the disengagement of forces along the whole contact line, because it allegedly "contradicts the very essence of the Minsk agreements", although this is the essence of the first paragraph of the Package of measures. A representative of Ukraine in the political subgroup of the Continental Group, Mr. Reznikov, said that the Minsk agreements are at least partially subject to revision. Just yesterday, the head of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Mr. Avakov, said - "We are considering a step-by-step approach; on one day we will take up one area, and the next day - another one. At the same time, the Ukrainian law enforcers are persistently trying to take up positions of self-defence forces in the so-called grey zones where there should be no military forces at all.

Madam President,

We called today's meeting precisely because for millions of people in eastern Ukraine, who Kiev and its partners in this room prefer not to think about the Minsk agreements are neither a trick nor a parallel reality; it is the only real way to peace. Only full implementation of these Agreements can give a chance to Ukraine to regain the lost trust of the Donbass people, whom the Ukrainian government has overnight made into second-class people, "separatists" and foreigners in their own country.

We cannot ignore the attempts to substitute, consciously or unconsciously, the Minsk settlement basis with other formats, such as the "Normandy" one, which was created just to support the implementation of the Minsk agreements. Therefore, I believe it is important to stress once again that the work of this format will be effective only if it is built on the unconditional implementation of the Package of Measures and the agreements reached in the Normandy format. That approach was reaffirmed in the agreed outcome of the “Quartet” summit in Paris on 9 December. And it is the implementation of this approach by all participants, first of all by Ukraine, that will be a decisive factor for us to assess the feasibility of a new meeting in the "Normandy format".

So far, as we can see, the fighting continues, including today's one near Lugansk. There is no progress on many issues, such as disengagement of forces and equipment, interaction on demining, introduction of the Steinmeyer formula in the Ukrainian legislation; there is no willingness to agree on the disengagement of forces in new areas, and no readiness for direct dialogue with the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR.

Madam President,

Before the meeting we distributed the text of the Package of Measures as an official document of the UN Security Council, so that participants of the meeting could refresh their memory not only about the fact that Russia is not mentioned in it, but also about the fact that its 13 points stipulate a clear sequence of the implementation: ceasefire, amnesty, constitutional reform with granting to the Donbass a special status and the right to language self-determination; then holding elections; and only then reestablishment of government control in the entire conflict zone. Unfortunately, only two of the 13 points are being implemented so far - on the work of the Contact Group in Minsk and on he OSCE Special Monitoring Mission.

Many of you speak about the catastrophic situation of Donbass people and refuse to acknowledge the responsibility of Kiev, which, fighting against its own population, imposed a transport, food and economic blockade against Donbass. For the fifth years in a row, people have been dying from bombardments. Are they shooting at themselves? Did they start the war and attacked Kiev?

The Eastern Ukraine will not accept the scenario when Kiev first offers to allow the Ukrainian military to Donbass, which self-defence forces, once civilians, have been defending for all these years, risking their lives every day; and then hand over control of the border to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And we should take this stand into consideration. Because without taking into account the view of the people of Donetsk and Lugansk, no settlement is possible.

I think it is time to finally recognize that the elections in Donbass can take place only in the atmosphere of public confidence in the electoral process. This requires specific conditions under which Kiev will not be able to carry out political persecution of those who enjoy real popular support. I mean those people whom all Ukrainian politicians label separatists calling for their punishment. And those whom Donbass people, in their turn, consider defenders advocating their right to life and national identity. We need guarantees for a truly inclusive political process.

Madam President,

We know the points that some delegations are about to make. That's why we want to warn you in advance. Every time you say that it is "Russia that is not implementing the Minsk agreements", remember that you are deliberately misleading the world community. Every time you refuse to recognize Kiev's responsibility and to urge it to fulfill obligations given to its own people, shifting this responsibility to others, you prolong the suffering of the people of Donbass, who, unlike you, know what the truth is, and protect this truth with their own lives.

The longer you play along with Kiev, the less chances we have for a mutually respectful dialogue between Ukrainian citizens on both sides of the division line. And it is the dialogue of the warring parties that we call for in all other conflicts - whether in Syria, Yemen or Libya. Only Donbass is deprived of this right. Therefore, we hope to hear colleagues' reassurances of their commitment to the Council's unanimous decision stated in the resolution 2202 and the presidential statement of 6 June 2018 in support of the Package of measures. That document is part of international law, and it must be unconditionally implemented.

Thank you, Madam President.

 

Right of reply after the statements by Germany and Ukraine

Mr. Kyslytsa, I am glad that you are interested in Russian poetry, but it is not surprising - we were born in the same country and probably we learned the same poems at school. I want to correct it: "Do the Russians want wars? Ask the silence, ask those soldiers who lie beneath the birches". One line was missed.

I don't know what portraits will be carried on May 9, I doubt that there will be Stalin's portraits. However, I wonder what portraits will be carried on May 9 in Kiev, and whether there will be any parade in Kiev, dedicated to our common, by the way, victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Today we have heard many things, we will not respond to everything, it’s not the goal of mine. Unfortunately, we haven't heard anything new. Everything's the same, the same songs. You call on Moscow to fulfill Minsk agreements, but for some reason you do not appeal to Kiev. Always the same fiddling with the Minsk agreements and cause-and-effect relations. It seems as that it is Russia that started the war in Ukraine, rather than Kiev came to Donbass.

Once again, we hear that Russia must withdraw its troops. But we already asked Mr. Apakan and Mr. Sajdik last year to tell us about the presence of Russian troops in Donbass. They could not tell us anything definite and pleasant for those who posed that question, or rather raised that issue before them. I do not know, maybe Ms. Ms. Grau and Mr. Çevik have more information, we can ask them where they saw Russian troops in Donbas.

There are people who tell that it is enough for Moscow to snap fingers, and this conflict will be over as soon as we tell the representatives of Donbass to give up. I have a question: are you really so naive that you think that the Kremlin pull the strings of those people who live in Donbass? Do you really think that they do not have their own opinion and are just puppets of the Kremlin and nothing more? I do not believe that you are so naive to think so.

Christoph, my friend, never ceases to amaze me. He is one of the authors of the Minsk Agreements. I personally do not know Mr. Pashkov, who used to be Vice-Governor of the Irkutsk Region, but I want to pose a question to Christoph and Sergei as well. The fact that Natalie Jaresko, a U.S. citizen, was the Minister of Finance of Ukraine, Mr. Abromavicius, the Lithuanian, was the Minister of Economy, and Ulana Suprun was the Minister of Health of Ukraine (she is from Chicago, by the way. And it's 8 thousand kilometers from Chicago to Kiev. That is more than from Irkutsk to Kiev, by the way). Does it allow us to assume that the United States and Lithuania are direct participants of the conflict in Ukraine? I will not even cite the example of the United States Army Colonel Alexander Windman, who was involved in the impeachment scandal. According to him, he was offered three times to become Ukraine’s Minister of Defense. But even he realized it was a joke.

Christoph has said today that we mark a sad day for international law and Ukraine. What do you refer to? To the anniversary of the adoption of Resolution 2202, which approved the Package of measures? Is the day of adoption of this resolution a tragic day for you? We referred to the way Vladislav Surkov skillfully persuaded the representative of Donbass to sign the Minsk agreements. And you should probably know that it was a huge concession and even defeat for the representatives of Donbass, who signed these agreements in Minsk in 2015. And today, the Ukrainian authorities do not even want to talk to these people, labelling them not only as separatists, but also as terrorists.

There has been much talk about today's fighting near Golubovskoye. According to the information we have, on 18 February, a unit of the Ukranian Armed Forces attempted to destabilize the situation along the Donbass contact line. Early in the morning, at around 6 a.m., a Ukrainian subversive group of 10 people set off towards the positions of the LNR’s self-defense forces near the village of Golubovskoye. The operation of the Ukrainian forces was revealed at its early stage. As the Ukrainian subversive group approached the contact line, it blew itself up on mines, at least 2 people died and 3 more injured. In order to evacuate the dead and wounded from the site of the explosion, the Ukrainian Armed Forces delivered a massive artillery strike targeting LNR settlements. This offensive strike was carried out with the use of medium-calibre mortars and large-calibre artillery pieces in the areas of Golubovskoye, Sokolniki, Donetskoye and Smeloye. The military forces of the Ukraine fired more than 50 shells and mines across the territory of the Republic.

Mr. Kyslytsa showed us today a picture of a miserable boy, 22-year-old Maxim Hitailov, who died today, apparently in this area. He was a grenade thrower in the 72nd Independent Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is a tragic event, but why do you make these boys go to death? Please, tell me.

We remember your former boss, Mr. Klimkin, sitting in this room in this particular chair, showing pictures of the poor girl died at your side of the contact line. That's when I asked him: “Next time when you are in the Security Council, Mr Klimkin, please bring pictures of civilians who died at the hands of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbass”. You can find a lot of such photos. Next time, I will do it myself, because it’s more than likely that the Ukrainian side will never bring them.

All this is a great tragedy. And we need to stop it. And to stop it, we must fulfil the Minsk agreements. Christoph was telling us about the violations took place on the contact line. Let’s look at the statistics. From December 9 to February 12, 60% of the responsibility for opening fire lies with the Ukrainian forces. Kiev has committed 3,737 ceasefire violations compared with 2,809 cases of violations by Donbass. And these are only the cases when the perpetrator can be identified. The total number of violations is 45,244 explosions by one side and 12,114 by the other. There were 304 vehicles located to the west of the demarcation line, and zero to the east. During that period, three settlements in the Donbas region were affected by the actions of Ukrainian military forces; and none - in the territories controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Unfortunately, you don't want to see the obvious, and I don't know which glasses will help you see the obvious. I can’t help wondering where you get your data on "poor people who are oppressed", as you put it, in the Russian-occupied Crimea. I have repeatedly urged you - come to the Crimea, see with your own eyes how "poor Crimeans are suffering".

Two of the speakers today recalled MN17. I believe, of course, that this is not the issue to discuss at this meeting. I don't think it's a good idea to present this data as if you were a prosecutor. I am not a prosecutor myself, and what is more, I want to share with you interesting information appeared in the Western press today. It turned out that the Dutch military intelligence and security service did not see a single BUK missile system in the area from which this plane could have been shot down. We have repeatedly said that the investigation is remarkably closed and lacks transparency. That information, which of course requires verification, confirms it.

Finally, I wish to remind you once again that we must understand that there are two parties to this conflict, not three. And these two parties are not Russia and Ukraine – as our Ukrainian Colleagues interpret it - but Donbass and Kyiv. As long as there is no direct dialogue between Kiev and Donbass, no settlement in Ukraine is possible. Just as there can be no settlement without direct dialogue between the parties to the conflict in Afghanistan, Syria, Cyprus, Colombia and other countries of the world. Only an inclusive dialogue can ensure lasting peace. That is why the "Normandy format" matters as long as its work is fully subordinated to the implementation of the Package of Measures, which should be implemented without any reservations.

Thank you.

In response to the statement by the Representative of Ukraine:

In response to the rejoinder from the representative of Ukraine: 

Mr. Kyslytsa, do not try to "divorce" me from the Press Secretary of the President Dmytry Peskov. I’ve seen his statement this morning. The information I referred to was not issued on 67th Street in the premises of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN. We received this information during the day after the situation became clear.

Thank you.