Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at a UNSC Briefing on Western Arms Supplies to Ukraine
Mr. President,
Yesterday we gathered in this chamber solely for the European countries to artificially keep the Ukrainian issue in the focus of our attention. Today we don’t see those habitual attendees of the meetings on Ukraine convened by Western states, they are not in the chamber. But that’s precisely what we expected. What we propose today is focusing not on meaningless rhetoric and accusations, but rather on a constructive discussion of real progress in the peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, as well as on the objective obstacles that still stand in the way of lasting peace.
The logic behind what is happening with the Ukrainian settlement is very simple. Sensible forces in Ukraine, Russia, the new US administration and the countries of the Global South are taking serious steps to ensure that hostilities in Ukraine stop and never resume. But a simple ceasefire is not enough to achieve this – we reached this point previously in the context of the Minsk agreements, which were systematically violated by the West and Ukraine. In order to achieve a lasting and long-term resolution of the Ukrainian crisis we need to address its root causes. To this end, Russia proposed resuming direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul, which Kiev itself abrogated in April 2022 at the behest of Boris Johnson and other Western leaders. Now we are proposing a second round of talks in Istanbul, which is to take place next Monday, June 2, where we will be able to exchange memoranda on the approaches of both sides to the negotiation process.
However, there is a whole host of forces who are not interested in such a scenario, and they have various reasons for this. The “expired” Ukrainian president does not want to stop hostilities because he is afraid of losing his grip on power – after all, he will have to hold elections and answer to the voters for what he has turned Ukraine into over the past 6 years, he will also have to account for the hundreds of billions of dollars of budget funds and Western (primarily American) aid that he has embezzled.
European warmongers are not interested in stopping hostilities either. They have been implementing their “anti-Russia” project in Ukraine since at least 2014, and they are not ready to give up on it to and allow the cessation of hostilities until Russia is defeated or at least bled-dry. Having lost millions of its citizens, it is Ukraine that is on the verge of total defeat today; therefore, the European sponsors of “private military company Ukraine” order Zelensky and his clique to continue fighting until the last Ukrainian, which compels the Kiev regime to capture the last Ukrainian men in the streets and throw them into the senseless meat grinder.
Needless to say, London, Brussels, Paris and Berlin have been somewhat discouraged by the fact that the “main stakeholder” in the Ukraine project – the United States – decided to withdraw from this pointless and disastrous game after a new realistically-minded administration came to power in Washington. However, they are not losing hope in bringing the Americans back to their ranks. Thus, they have no scruples about resorting to any provocations and any lies about Russia and its actions only to make the American President change his mind. In fact, it is grappling his attention that all the statements by the Western politicians involved in the Ukrainian conflict are aimed at; they do expect that blatant speculations and double-talk will prevent him from fixing relations with Russia. For example, we know Mr. Trump regularly receives reports of Russian strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial complex, but these strikes are being presented, contrary to the facts, as targeted attacks on civilian objects. At the same time, what is being purposefully hushed up is the fact that these strikes are targeting exclusively military objects and enterprises related to Ukraine's military-industrial complex, and that we are launching these strikes in response to the unprecedented escalation of attacks by the Kiev regime on peaceful Russian cities – we provided the relevant statistics yesterday.
In order to “derail” efforts to establish peace, European countries have recently taken a number of steps to trigger a spiral of escalation. Thus, the new German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently announced the lifting of restrictions related to the range capability of weapons supplied to Ukraine by Britain, France, Germany and the United States. He even specified that this already happened a few months ago. Experts directly linked his words to the supply of Taurus missiles to Ukraine, which is something that the Kiev regime has been begging for since the very beginning of our special military operation.
Afterwards, however, the German leader tried to backtrack saying that he actually meant that Germany would help Ukraine to independently manufacture long-range missiles. Without a doubt, these clumsy maneuvering did not mislead anyone, and the “screwdriver” assembly of the Taurus missiles or uncrewed British boats, does not make them Ukrainian. Thus, Germany will only be drawn deeper into the war with Russia, which will give us the right to consider all options so as to properly respond to this unfriendly move.
If there is a shred of common sense left in Berlin and there are still people there who have not forgotten history, they cannot but realize what these new aggressive actions against Russia will result in for this country. Less than a month ago we celebrated the 80th anniversary of the inglorious end of the previous similar misadventure. And Europe, which also suffered a great deal from German militarism and recklessness, should remember that very well too.
Overall, we can not but state that Germany's actions are part of a campaign launched by Europe to sabotage the peace process and provoke our country into taking some kind of retaliatory action, which they could subsequently portray to the US administration as evidence of Moscow's unwillingness to negotiate.
Despite their own resources running low, EU member states are persistently seeking ways to step up military support for the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev, which only serves to further exacerbate tensions on the European continent. On May 26, the EU Council endorsed the establishment of a new financial instrument to allocate €150 billion for purchasing weapons and ammunition. We already know that this new instrument, called “Security Action for Europe” (SAFE), will also finance certain “urgent and large-scale” investment in the Ukrainian defense industry.
Furthermore, European countries are shamelessly continuing their proxy war against Russia, hoping that they will get off scot-free. They are providing Kiev with satellite intelligence, they are training Ukrainian soldiers at NATO military bases and sending their military advisers to Ukraine. Undoubtedly, it is the United Kingdom that is largely behind this. The involvement of British intelligence in the hostilities is so large-scale that it is becoming increasingly difficult to brush such blatant facts under the rug.
At the end of March, British journalists published an investigative report on this issue. In particular, this report reveals that the British collaborated with Ukrainian servicemen so as to plot the operation to blow up the Crimean Bridge, and that since at least the middle of last year, British and American officers have been “overseeing every aspect of this operation – from determining the coordinates of the targets to calculating missile flight paths.” Colleagues, do you really think that we fail to notice all this and that we have no detailed information about the involvement of each and all of your countries in military actions against Russia? Do you really believe that you will bear no consequences for that?
Yet, it is not Russia you have been punishing – we have perfectly adapted to living under sanctions; you’ve been punishing yourselves. Let us compare the state of your countries today with that of three years ago – you will see how this reckless policy is affecting the sponsors of the Kiev regime. Until you stop viewing what is happening exclusively as a “zero-sum game,” the situation for Europe and its satellites will but worsen. Furthermore, it is high time you realized that there is no “magic weapon” that can turn the tide of the military campaign, which is currently going poorly for Kiev.
Mr. President,
I have no doubt that today we will yet again hear the same cookie-cutter narratives from the Western sponsors of the Zelensky regime: allegations vis-a-vis Russia, assertions about “Ukraine's right to self-defense using any means,” and calls for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire as if it were the only proof of one’s readiness for peace, or at least for a 30-day truce. However, if we take away this rhetoric, which serves as a beautiful cover to confuse the countries of the Global South, we can see what is behind such initiatives. These initiatives are nothing but an attempt to mislead us once again, to compel us into a new unilateral gesture of goodwill, which will later be used as an opportunity for Kiev to regroup forces and obtain more weapons. This is not a path to peace, but rather an attempt to take a pause to continue the confrontation.
Don’t count on that; you won’t get another Minsk. All in all, we are ready to consider the possibility of establishing a ceasefire, which would subsequently pave the way for definitively addressing the root causes of the conflict. But for this to happen, we need to see reciprocal steps taken by the other side. We have repeatedly voiced our concerns. During the truce, it is necessary (at the very least) for Western countries to stop supplying weapons to the Kiev regime, and for Ukraine to stop its mobilization. However, all your statements indicate that you cannot agree to such a scenario, whereas we cannot agree to a situation that would allow the Kiev regime to catch its breath, lick its wounds, and stop the collapse of the eastern front. If we are talking seriously about peace, we need to discuss its parameters and conditions, and only then decide on a ceasefire. This is precisely what the direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul are geared towards. These talks will serve as the litmus test for the parties' real, rather than declared, aspirations for peace. All the more so given that Russia has already unilaterally respected the 30-day moratorium on strikes against energy infrastructure, as well as the Easter truce and the Victory Day truce. The Kiev regime simply ignored all of these opportunities to demonstrate its readiness to pursue peace. So what do you expect from us now?
Mr. President,
We have already said on numerous occasions and would like to reiterate now that the objectives of our special military operation can be achieved through either peaceful or military means. Our Armed Forces stand ready to continue and step up their combat acrivities for as long as it may take. Just look at any military reports, even those that are most biased vis-a-vis Russia – they clearly show that Russian troops are successfully making headway along virtually the entire front line. On a daily basis, the Russian Ministry of Defense provides information about the liberation of various settlements and destruction of foreign equipment. Despite all this, we have always emphasized that we are committed to a political and diplomatic settlement of the crisis.
It is fundamentally important for us that the root causes of the conflict be addressed once and for all. 2014 witnessed an unconstitutional coup d'état in Ukraine, which was supported and sponsored by the US and the EU. That coup brought to power a new regime that set out to destroy all things Russian. For all these years, it has trampled on the rights of the people in the east and the south of Ukraine, and in other regions as well – all that happened right before your eyes. We cannot and will not stand idly by and watch as millions of Russian-speaking people remain under the regime pursuing the policies that flagrantly violate their fundamental rights and freedoms.
If the neo-Nazi authorities in Kiev believe that they can achieve a cessation of hostilities while maintaining institutionalized oppression and discrimination vis-a-vis a significant portion of the population in the rest of Ukraine, they are deeply mistaken. Leaving everything as it is means deliberately ignoring the norms of international law and the provisions of the UN Charter. Let me remind you that article 1 of the UN Charter clearly stipulates the need to respect human rights “without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” What we see in Ukraine today is the exact opposite: in fact, the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine is being persecuted, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is facing restrictions on its activities, and rights of other national minorities are being severely violated.
In this regard, we call on our European colleagues, who are so actively advocating democratic values, to demand from Kiev to repeal discriminatory laws that directly contradict international law. By doing so, you will be able to verify the veracity of your position. So far, we’ve heard bombastic statements about human rights, but we have never seen any tangible steps taken to protect the millions of people whose rights have been systematically violated in Ukraine today. “Political expediency” is making our Western colleagues deaf and dumb when it comes to such things as the rights of the Russian-speaking population, the Russian language, canonical Orthodoxy, the glorification of Hitler's henchmen, and the spread of neo-Nazism in Ukraine. If you truly want lasting and sustainable peace in Ukraine, this must stop.
Mr. President,
The time has come for everyone to make a choice. We made ours back in 2022, and we will not abandon our compatriots, the Russian people, in their time of need. If necessary, we will fight for this as long as it takes. We will no longer tolerate any threats on our borders nor any anti-Russian neo-Nazi entities being our neighbors. Now it is up to those who were behind the anti-Russian project in Ukraine. Do you understand what mistakes you made? Do you realize the futility of you attempts to vanquish and isolate Russia? If you are driven solely by Russophobia, then we probably have nothing to talk about. But if you are still willing to discuss potential options for us to coexist and perhaps even to cooperate, then let’s talk. We have never rejected dialogue, nor do we reject it now. The choice is yours.
Thank you.
