Remarks to the Press by Chargé d’Affaires of the Russian Federation Dmitry Polyanskiy on the Ukraine Involvement in Terrorist Attacks in Africa
Dmitry Polyanskiy: Dear Colleagues,
Thank you very much for paying attention to our work. I just wanted to use this opportunity to draw your attention to the meeting, that we just had. You heard our speech. I think everything was said there. I just want to draw your attention to a very important moment.
You noticed that our friends from Mali participated in this meeting so far. It wasn’t without a reason. It was because of a very serious development that happened in the end of July. You know that there was a terrorist attack in Tinzaouaten in Mali, and the Kiev regime officials boasted about their participation in this attack. After some international perplexion, some of these statements were withdrawn, but nevertheless, it never denied the fact that it was helping the terrorists to fight the Malian army and Russian instructors, and also it promised some kind of new developments in the future.
I also wanted to tell you that yesterday we had raised this issue under the “Any other business” in closed consultations. And to our surprise, I would say astonishment, those Western countries who were speaking, they never mentioned the word “Ukraine”. They were pretending that we raised the issue of situation in Sahel.
So, I imagine that the situation when the tentacles of Kiev terrorist regime are now as far as in Sahel, and that the arms supplied to Ukraine is finding its way in the arms of terrorists in Sahel is very uncomfortable development for them. We have warned about this repeatedly, now it’s happening. It's the direct consequence of the escalation that the West is promoting in Ukraine.
Thank you.
Q: Do you have any comments on the Russian billionaire, Mr. Durov, who was charged by the French authorities?
A: Frankly, I am not following this issue in detail. I think that everybody is worried about freedom of speech in any case. There are different aspects of this situation. Mr. Durov is not only a citizen of Russia, as you know, so I think that there are a lot of interests implied. It is a good opportunity for him to really understand right now the true value of Western statements about freedom of speech. I think I will limit my comments to this.
Q: Does Russia consider offering any product to the Security Council in terms of the situation in Sahel and Western weapons ending up in this region?
A: I think it is up to our Sahelian partners to decide whether they need such a product or not. So far, they have not reached out to us with such a product. I think that the statement of the representative of Mali was self-explanatory and very powerful. In my understanding, this is enough at this stage, so we will see how it will develop further.
