Remarks ro the press by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Vershinin following UNSC briefing on Ukraine
I'm very glad to welcome you all after this UNSC meeting, which I had the honor to chair as Russian Presidency of the Council. I believe this meeting was very important and it has become a powerful reminder of the importance of full implementation of all provisions of the Minsk Package. We believe that if implemented, it is the only foundation for any political solution for the internal Ukrainian crisis and conflict. Sorry to say that, but today we presented a lot of proofs that the Ukrainian side until now has not accomplished all its obligations under the Minsk Agreements.
At the meeting we reiterated very firmly our commitment to de-escalation and finding a peaceful solution to this crisis, which once again should be based on the Minsk Agreements. I believe that now it is the time for our partners in Western capitals to stop this hysteria about the intentions of Russia in the region. If we do something, we do it while having in mind our national intrests and the interests of our national security. As it was announced in Moscow, after military drills Russian troops began to come back to places of their permanent location on the Russian national territory.
Q: You talked about a letter of guarantees that you sent today to the Americans. What are these security guarantees that you are talking about? Could you tell us more about it? And then my second question is -- you are saying that your troops are on the Russian territory, but can you understand that the number of the troops of 150,000 and more according to the Americans is alarming to your neighbors? Thank you.
A: Indeed, this morning we handed to the American ambassador in Moscow written reaction of the Russian side to the answer of the United States to our requests and our vision of long-standing security that should be equal for everybody in Europe and, on a bigger scale, in the Euro-Atlantic region. So today Secretary of State confirmed that this written reaction had been received by his Ambassador to Moscow and that it would be considered very attentively by the American side. We hope that this consideration will be very serious.
Russia has a very honest and transparent position. We do not hide any our concerns and preoccupations and at the same time, we want equal security for everybody which should be based on very important and well-known documents that were signed by European leaders. We do not demand something special, but we would like to send very clear messages about our legitimate interests, about the strategic stability and about how we can have a serious dialogue, but not an imitation of a dialogue.
Speaking about Russian troops. Once more, we are here at the UN and we all quote the UN Charter each and every day. This is our sovereign right to think about our national security and also to have our troops where we believe they should be to defend our territory. And you know for sure that if there are foreign troops in Europe, they are not Russian. They may be American, there may be other, but not Russian. So it's very clear that this strategic stability is something that should be supported by everybody.
We were very concrete in our proposals about the ideas that we would like to discuss. We got the answers from NATO and from the US that, globally speaking, do not satisfy our concerns. But at the same time, we said that we are ready for serious discussions and serious dialogue, especially having in mind that many ideas that we got in American responses were initially Russian ideas about trust, confidence, about a channel of communications between military representatives of all sides.
Q: You submitted that document to the Security Council. You say it's a result of your investigation. In the document, you accuse Ukrainian authorities and representatives of militarized formation of in fact exterminating the civilian population of the self proclaimed Republics of Dunesk and Lugansk. I want to clarify on the word extermination. Do you think this accusation can ever in future be used as an excuse, a justification for military action against Ukraine?
A: Nobody seeks any excuses for hostile actions. We said we do not have any intention to do this. And about these documents, I would not like to make any definitions of what they are, but please watch these documents. Those are video and photo documents, but as I said today in the Council, they are very tough because the level of cruelty is more than just high.
Q: There is a proposal which came today from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to have a summit of nations before anything escalates further. And your Foreign Minister also said there's more time for diplomacy. After today's meeting, that was slightly contentious, if not very contentious, do you think there is diplomacy in the future?
A: I believe in diplomacy, and I am glad that our partners believe in diplomacy. Certainly we should do all that is possible to find a diplomatic and peaceful solution to this inter-Ukrainian crisis and conflict. And once again, today's discussion was not easy, but it was important because it was a powerful reminder of the importance of the implementation of all provisions of Minsk Agreements. Thank you very much.
