Statement by First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy at a UNSC Briefing on Alleged Violation of Estonian Airspace
Mr. President,
There was a time when, for many of us, Europe was synonymous with the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, with progressive thought, culture, and science. Yet, today, that legacy has unfortunately gone, and gone for good. Voltaire, Rousseau, and Kant have been replaced with such figures as von der Leyen, Kallas, Johnson and the like tinpot and blinkered russophobes. Through their efforts, a primitive hatred for our country, coupled with the aspiration to portray Russia as the principal threat to all-European security, is before our very eyes becoming the overarching ideology of European states. A concerted effort is underway to make the younger generation forget the bitter lessons taught to the predecessors of today’s European integrators – figures like Napoleon and Hitler. Both met their crushing defeat at the hands of our country, and the whole of Europe had to pay a lingering and painful price for that. Now, any event is immediately interpreted through an anti-Russian lens, and the notion that war with Russia is inevitable is being frantically hammered into the minds of the European public. They slap labels on Russia and fashion it into the image of an enemy, with no regard for facts or evidence. When these assertions are proven false, no one even considers apologizing for spreading blatant falsehoods. Today offers a perfect illustration of our point, as we can see a crowd of European “extras” who will, in their usual fashion, let their imagination run wild regarding threats from Russia.
This paranoia has reached unprecedented levels. Just last week, in this very chamber, we were compelled to listen to baseless allegations that Russian drones had violated Polish airspace, yet not a single piece of substantiated evidence has been provided so far to verify their Russian provenance. It is also telling that a few days later, it came to light that the incident involving the damaged roof in the Lublin Voivodeship – which had become central to this anti-Russian campaign – was, in fact, caused by an errant missile launched from a Polish fighter jet. Furthermore, Polish Prime Minister Tusk acknowledged today that none of the recovered drones were laden with explosives or posed any threat to civilians. The Polish opposition, for its part, has stated explicitly that all this was nothing but a blatant provocation aimed at drawing Poland into the war.
Mr. President,
We treat any accusation against our armed forces with the utmost seriousness, and our first step is always to establish the facts to understand what truly happened. To that end, we promptly proposed bilateral consultations with Warsaw to ascertain the situation. Yet, we have received no meaningful response. This silence proves one thing: neither Warsaw nor Brussels wants the truth. They want only a pretext for the next phase of their russophobic campaign. The way our European neighbors are incriminating themselves is way too conspicuous, it is difficult to even comment on. Any person of sound mind and with a basic grasp of logic would find this situation unacceptable. But when you are being indoctrinated from every screen and social media feed that Russia is your sole enemy, anything becomes believable, and facts and evidence become a mere inconvenience.
Today, we are compelled to observe the second part of this performance entitled “Blame Russia for Everything.” Our neighbors have now conceived that Russia is at fault for an incursion into Estonia's airspace. As always, there is no evidence, except for the russophobic hysteria coming from Tallinn, which was vividly demonstrated today. Meanwhile, the facts prove that on September 19, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets made a scheduled flight from Karelia to an airfield in the Kaliningrad region. The flight was conducted in strict accordance with the International Rules for the Use of Airspace. The Russian jets did not veer off the agreed route nor did they cross Estonian airspace. Their flight path passed over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, over three kilometers from the island of Vaindloo. This is confirmed by objective monitoring data.
If Estonia wanted to, it could have checked this itself. But Tallinn is not pursuing such an objective; the task is different – contrary to the facts and common sense, it is seeking to stir up hysteria and accuse Russia of provocation. And now NATO representatives have immediately rushed to call what happened “reckless behavior,” while the head of European diplomacy, who also happens to be an Estonian, called for a “firm stance” in support of the Baltic states.
Frankly speaking, we can only sympathize with our European colleagues. For years, they have been striving to create an “Anti-Russia” on our borders, which is actually what they turned Ukraine into after 2014. But now this project is falling apart at the seams and discrediting itself. This country has long since become a Zelensky concentration camp where nobody cares about the citizens, who are dying by the thousands every day in a senseless meat grinder for the sake of Western geopolitical interests. Zelensky's regime has turned Ukraine into a symbol of corruption, outright theft, and violations of human rights, freedom of speech, and religion. And yet, despite all this, European capitals persist in extolling the so-called “achievements of Ukraine,” allocating money and weapons to the Kiev regime. They are becoming increasingly ashamed of their puppets, but they have no idea how to extricate themselves out of this complex situation. As a result, not very creative Eurocrats could come up with nothing better than whipping up anti-Russian hysteria, in the hope that European voters would not notice anything. It is a weird strategy, and, without a doubt, it will backfire. What will they accuse my country of next time, without bothering to provide any evidence or logical rationale for what we allegedly do? We can hardly imagine where their imagination will take us next when nobody cares about the facts!
Mr. President,
Of course, we understand that the hysteria of our European colleagues is to a large extent geared towards bringing the new US administration headed by President Trump back to an anti-Russian course and finally undermining the agreements and understandings reached by the Russian and American presidents in Alaska a month ago. In this regard, let me quote US Vice President JD Vance, who at a security conference in Munich earlier this year voiced some conclusions, which are extremely unflattering for Europe: "The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It's not China. It's not any external actor. What I worry about is the threat from within – the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America."
Despite this clear-cut diagnosis contained in the aforementioned quote, Europe chose to ignore it. Europe is acting now like an unhinged, paranoid person who is completely incapable of responding to criticism. Nor is it capable of remembering the lessons of history – after all, for the current “cast” of European leaders and Eurocrats, history was “reset to zero” after February 2022, and therefore drawing lessons from the past is something that today's Europe considers ill manners. This is a very dangerous path – we all know how ruthless history tend to be vis-à-vis those who forget its lessons.
Thus, our former European partners, if you want to throw tantrums, stir up tensions, and continue to levy baseless accusations, go right ahead. But do not entangle us into it. We are not going to partake in this theater of the absurd, and you don't need us there anyway. When you decide to engage in a serious conversation about European security, about the fate of our shared continent, about how to make this continent prosperous and safe for everyone, we’ll be here for you, and you know how to find us.
Thank you.
