Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations
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I would first like to warmly welcome our former colleagues, Mr. Ertuğrul Apakan and Mr. Martin Sajdik, who have undertaken a very difficult task and for whose efforts we are very grateful. And of course I would like to thank Mr. Zerihoun for his briefing.The extremely grave crisis in Ukraine sparked by a coup d’état actively supported from outside the country has now lasted two and a half years. Today, astonishingly, the Permanent Representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom have attempted to tie the start of the crisis to the unification of Crimea with Russia. There is no need to distort the facts. They will not succeed in covering up their blame for the crisis. At the moment Crimea is an island of stability by comparison with Donbas in former Ukraine.For the duration of the crisis in Ukraine, the Security Council has unfortunately been used as a platform for propaganda. The single, although very significant, achievement within the walls of this Chamber was the adoption of resolution 2202 (2015), which approved the package of measures agreed to on 12 February 2015. In adopting that resolution, the Council took on the political responsibility for ensuring the implementation of the package. That is what we must focus on. In our conversations, some of our Western colleagues have admitted that Kyiv is not implementing it. But they also say that, while President Poroshenko personally agreed to the document in Minsk, he does not have sufficient political clout to implement its provisions. We do not accept such explanations. Why did the current Ukrainian leaders seize power through a coup d’état if they were not capable of governing their country?We will be keeping a close watch on the behaviour of the new Ukrainian Government. Mr. Yatsenyuk, who was well known for his bellicose statements, has resigned as Prime Minister. It appears that there are no serious differences between the President and the new Prime Minister and that the latter does intend to implement reforms. But it seems clear that there can be no question of reform succeeding until the bloody conflict is settled and until Ukrainian society comes together and rejects its hostile ideology of extreme nationalism.In that context, we were interested in the Ukrainian delegation’s proposal to hold this Security Council meeting today, particularly since President Poroshenko announced that this was done on his personal initiative. We need to know what the new power structure in Kyiv has to say about its intentions with regard to implementing the Minsk agreements. That is particularly the case in view of the fact that before proposing that initiative, the Kyiv authorities, as usual, consulted Washington, and an assistant to the Secretary of State visited Kyiv. In their bilateral contacts, our American partners have said that they would like to make a constructive contribution to settling the crisis in Ukraine and would even like to join the Normandy format. In practice, however, as we have seen more than once, their interactions with Kyiv have the opposite effect, leading to a radicalization of the Ukrainian authorities’ positions and increasingly aggressive rhetoric on their part. Now this has happened again. With policies such as these, based on a hidden agenda, Washington is undermining trust in its actions, and, as everyone knows, not just in Ukraine but in many other cases. The statement made today by the United States representative is yet another example of that policy. And today’s statement by the representative of Ukraine was deeply disappointing, with a lot of provocative rhetoric and twisting of the facts but zero concrete plans for implementing the Minsk agreements.The tasks facing Kyiv in implementing the package of measures are very clear. The political triad is crucial. First, it involves changing Ukraine’s Constitution and enacting a permanent law on special status for Donbas. Secondly, it has to include the enactment of a law on elections in Donetsk and Luhansk in agreement with their representatives. Thirdly, it has to settle the problem of amnesty in connection with the events that have occurred in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. None of those issues has been resolved. Kyiv continues to refuse to conduct a direct dialogue with the Donbas representatives or to agree with them on the steps to be taken, as provided for in the Minsk agreement. In Kyiv they love to say that it is Russia that is not implementing the package of measures. But it is not we who have to enact all these laws, it is the Verkhovna Rada, and it is not we who have to put them into effect, it is the President of Ukraine. It is perfectly clear that they are simply looking to shift the blame for their problems and make it somebody else’s headache.We are always hearing from Kyiv that the main obstacle to solving the fundamental problems with the settlement is the instability of the ceasefire. However, if we consider it logically and carefully compare the facts of the reports of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), it becomes clear whose interests are served by constantly stirring up the situation on the contact line. It is no accident that the Ukrainian authorities are constantly putting out new ideas either about deploying peacekeeping forces or sending in police with heavy weapons. That is, after all, a very convenient way to proceed: first deliberately fan tensions, and then offer solutions that are unrelated to reality. The sole objective is to play for time and to distract attention from the non-implementation of the Minsk agreements. We are concerned about reports with regard to the worsening situation in the conflict zone in Donbas. The situation began to heat up in December 2015, particularly after Ukrainian armed forces began to occupy towns in the neutral strip. On some occasions, they even crossed the contact line as defined by the Minsk agreements. We view those acts as very dangerous and provocative.Ukrainian forces must pull out of those towns. That assessment is supported by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission. On 17 April, the representatives of the Ukrainian forces, in discussion with OSCE observers, did not hide their intention to occupy new territories in the south-east. The number of violations of the ceasefire have recently been equal to those in the heated period of the summer of 2015. On some days, there have been up to 4,000 such violations. OSCE statistics indicate that the Ukrainian side is the side that is most responsible for those violations. From 4 to 21 April, the Special Monitoring Mission noted a threefold increase in Ukrainian heavy weapons in the security zone. The most recent report states that only 9 per cent of the declared Ukrainian weapons remain in their storehouses. A significant portion of the missing weapons can be found in the forward positions of the Ukrainian forces. They have continued to use heavy weapons against Donbas towns. As a result, they are destroying houses, and civilians are suffering.Yesterday, the Ukrainian forces, armed with 120-mm weapons, shelled the checkpoint and crossing point of Olenivka. Four civilians were killed, including a pregnant woman. Our British colleague said that he does not care who is shooting, but it matters to us. There was a meeting today of the Permanent Council of the OSCE to consider specific measures to improve the security situation. We need to have a permanent presence of OSCE observers in there, and we must get Kyiv to remove the serious constraints on their movements. We must also monitor the weapon storehouses, and, if necessary, put in surveillance cameras there and in the most dangerous sectors. We must also have “mirror” patrols, not only on all of the territory of the Donbas region, but also in the rear guard of the Ukrainian army. We must step up our efforts to ensure local ceasefires, and we need to have a Joint Control Coordination Centre whose patrols are manned by representatives of the armed forces involved. We must have direct contacts between the various sections. All those measures could seriously reduce the number of incidents.However, it is remains clear, as has been seen in many regional crises throughout the world, that maintaining a ceasefire without resolving the political problems is impossible. Instead of promoting national reconciliation by implementing the Minsk agreements, Ukraine continues its witch hunts and efforts to prepare for war. The latest example of that trend, instead of the needed reforms, is the decision to set up a ministry to deal with “anti-terrorist operations” in the “occupied territories”. Ukraine has persisted in calling the representatives of Donetsk and Luhansk separatists, despite the fact that those representatives signed the Minsk agreements and demonstrated their willingness to continue to live in a Ukrainian State. An economic blockade remains in place on Donbas. All dissidents are being called terrorists and separatists, and they are being persecuted in all kinds of ways.The standard operating procedure for those in power in Kyiv has been torture and abuse of individuals, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial punishment, much of which has been cited by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, but the Western patrons of human rights prefer not to talk about that. The American and British Permanent Representatives have tried again today to slander our humanitarian convoys into Donbas. From the very beginning, we called upon the Ukrainian Administration to organize monitoring at the border, but Kyiv refused. They have also refused permission to international entities to carry out such inspections. Generating cheap propaganda is preferable, it would seem, to relieving the suffering of the people of Ukraine.Today, it is not possible to forget the tragic date, 2 May 2014, when, two years ago, 48 people were burned alive in Odessa and more than 200 were injured. No one has been punished for that crime. The Council of Europe Office in Ukraine has stated that the investigation carried out by the Ukrainian authorities does not meet the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular the requirements of independence, effectiveness, thoroughness and timeliness. We call upon members of the Security Council not to forget that tragic event. It is important to establish the truth and to bring those responsible to justice.In that context, we can only feel disgust at the recent appointment to the speakership of the Ukrainian Parliament, the Supreme Rada, of the odious person known as the “Commander of the Maidan”, who, according to many witnesses, participated in the provocative shooting by snipers, both in Kyiv during the coup and in Odessa. It is not surprising that, when he assumed that post, he proposed in Parliament that they should remove the paragraph on the special status of Donbas from the draft bill on changing the Constitution. The recent meeting between him and a high-level representative from Washington, D.C., again reminds us of the mechanism behind those bloody events.In conclusion, I should like to again stress that what is extremely important today is to implement the package of measures on the Minsk agreements, as well as the strict, consistent and full implementation of the provisions of those agreements. It is the only way forward for settling the conflict in Donbas and for resolving all related problems.That concludes the main part of my statement. Now, if I may be allowed, I would like to make two brief comments.As the Council is aware, we were not here to discuss the issue of Crimea. That is because that is a domestic affair of the Russian Federation. But since the issue was raised, I would like to comment. Indeed, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars was banned by Russia because of their extremist activities. In some countries, after not enough attention was paid to dealing with extremists, we can see what serious consequences that has wrought. We will not repeat that mistake. The reality is that, during recent times, there has been a new wave of movement of members of Crimean Tatars to Russian Crimea. We have seen more then 1,000 requests from Uzbekistan alone, for example, which have been accepted.Kyiv should concern itself not about the Tatars in Crimea but about Donbas, where heavy weaponry and tanks have been attacking the civilian population, their homes, schools and hospitals. The civilian population is also under an economic blockade and their social benefits and pensions have been cut off. Kyiv on a daily basis is jeopardizing the people’s rights to health and to their very lives. We note that, in recent years in Ukraine, they banned the Communist Party and many other parties. They have also suppressed civil society groups and people’s access to the media. In addition, they have seized and destroyed Orthodox churches and monasteries under the Moscow Patriarch. The Parliament has a draft bill aimed at banning the activities of that Church in Ukraine, although 12,000 people are members of that Church. Such a campaign could be compared, say, to efforts in a Catholic country to ban the Catholic Church, for example, because they did not like that Church. Therefore, our Ukrainian colleagues and others who are selective human rights activists should not preach sermons to us.Now another minor comment, if I may. Mr. Sajdik in his statement said something that seemed rather strange to me. He said he requires an answer to the issue of Kyiv’s control over its borders. But the answer to that can be found in paragraphs 9 and 11 of the Minsk agreements’ package of measures, which clearly state that, after elections are held and the new Constitution is adopted, Ukraine will then regain control over its border. There are eight paragraphs that deal with what exactly should figure in the Constitution about the special status of eastern Ukraine, Donbas. The answers are there. We must work in line with the provisions of the agreements and draw up laws in consultation with the representatives of the regions concerned. The Ukrainian authorities do not want to do that, insisting on restoring what they refer to as their territorial sovereignty and control, all of which is a cause for serious concern.I have a further point. A very important fact has been communicated to me. When I spoke about the increased presence of Ukrainian armed forces on the contact line, this is what I said: the most recent report of the Special Monitoring Mission noted that Ukrainian storehouses account for just 9 per cent of the arms stock. Most of the rest of those weapons can be found in front-line positions, which demonstrates the position of Kyiv with regard to a peaceful settlement in the Donbas.