Statement by Chargé d'Affaires of the Russian Federation Dmitry Polyanskiy at UNSC briefing on the situation in Yemen
Mme.President,
We thank Special Representative for Yemen Hans Gruendberg and Assistant Secretary-General Joyce Msuya for their briefings on political and humanitarian developments in Yemen.
We must say that the political situation in Yemen has entered the stage of stagnation. The tempo of Yemen’s settlement that we have seen recently, is slowing down. A month has passed since the Presidential Council and “Ansar Allah” prolonged the ceasefire in June, but no tangible progress has emerged since then. Previous experience clearly demonstrated that generally, the sides are able to arrive at an agreement. We hope that they will overcome their contradictions and build mutual confidence.
Unfortunately, the issue of unlocking transit communication with the city of Taiz is still in a deadlock. In this regard, we must point out that the lack of flexibility of the sides can trigger another spiral of reciprocal accusations. Whereas any concessions, even minor ones, would prove their commitment to a lasting political settlement.
Nevertheless, we find it positive that inter-Yemeni dialogue continues and that the sides abstain from hostilities. They have not “rolled down” into another confrontation. Still, the balance is rather fragile, and a single wrong step may reverse all progress and have Yemen roll back into the chaos of a war. We welcome the continuing efforts of the Military Coordination Committee that is working to ensure observance of the truce in Amman while engaging with representatives of all sides to the conflict.
Mme.President,
We support the efforts of H.Grundberg. Even in the current circumstances, he does not step back on his attempts to help the sides make an agreement and discover some positive momentum. We call on all sides to joint SESG’s mediator efforts. As we said on many occasions and repeat again, Hans, you can count on our assistance.
We keep providing all possible assistance to the UN mediation in Yemen, i.a. through our contacts with all political forces of Yemen and interested stakeholders. We encourage them to adopt a constructive approach and be ready for compromise when addressing their existing contradictions. We repeat that these goals can only be achieved through a comprehensive inclusive inter-Yemeni dialogue.
We are particularly worried about the dire socio-economic situation in Yemen. The deteriorating situation in the country is characterized as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. We again stress the need to lift all restrictions related to deliveries of basic necessity goods to Yemen. Food, medicines, and first need items must be available to Yemenis on a non-discriminatory basis.
Mme.President
The mandate of the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) expires this month. We support its technical rollover. We believe UNMHA does important work as part of international efforts promoting the Yemeni settlement. However the current situation hardly encourages us to “shuffle” the Mission’s tasks. We should better wait for a calmer period to do this.
In conclusion, let me say that the situation in Yemen directly influences the region of the Middle East, Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. In the interests of a region-wide de-escalation, we call on the international community to interact constructively in order to promote peace and stability in the Middle East, i.a. on the basis of UNSC resolution 598. The Russian collective security concept for the Persian Gulf area retains its relevance, as it offers an inclusive and collective approach to addressing the existing problems.
Thank you.
