Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative Maria Zabolotskaya at UNSC briefing on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts
Mme.President,
We thank USG Voronkov and Ms.Gherman for the analysis of the situation with activities of the UN mechanisms under their lead that deal with countering ISIL. We express comprehensive support for the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism and Executive Directorate of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.
We share many assessments contained in Secretary-General’s report on the threat posed by ISIL.
When analyzing the terrorist threat, we must focus on its root causes rather than symptoms. The Council often refers in that context to problems of development, socio-economic backwardness, malfunctioning of state institutions, and complexity of security or humanitarian situations. However, we must not forget that those problems are often the result of the interference of the collective West in the affairs of sovereign developing states and the implementation of strategies of "controlled chaos" by orchestrating "color revolutions" that involve extremists and terrorists of all sorts.
The former colonial powers have not changed their colonial behaviors. Today, under the pretext of conducting counter-terrorism operations, they obsessively maintain their military presence, which the affected countries have long been unhappy about. The ineffectiveness, if not the failure, of these so-called counter-terrorism operations in curbing terrorist threat is noteworthy. This circumstance unambiguously indicates that the real objectives of the foreign military presence are completely different. Under the guise of counter-terrorism, the appropriation of other nations’ natural resources is in full swing.
In order to pursue its geopolitical ambitions, fuel smoldering conflicts and create the appearance of supposedly people-based resistance to "undemocratic regimes", the West pulls all strings available, without disdain for recharging terrorists. Hence the attempts to divide terrorists into "good", "bad" and "not so bad".
Secretary-General's report under consideration on the threat posed by ISIL to international peace and security perfectly illustrates the points we have made. It identifies the Middle East, parts of Africa and Afghanistan as the most problematic regions where ISIL and its branches keep growing stronger. What do these regions have in common? The answer is quite obvious: the destructive role of the West.
Let's start off with the Middle East. This is where ISIL first emerged in the aftermath of the aggression by US-led coalition against Iraq. Even now, when ISIL has been largely defeated in Iraq and Syria, hotbeds of terrorism remain in areas that are illegally occupied by the US military. From there, too, comes the threat of foreign terrorist fighters (and their family members) who remain and become radicalized in prisons, camps and temporary accommodation facilities in northeastern Syria. The US is lecturing other nations on how to deal with this threat. But first, the US itself must withdraw its occupying troops from Syria. Then the national authorities of Syria will be able to address this and other problems in a quicker and more effective manner.
Let’s take a glimpse of the situation in Africa. There is no doubt that ISIL came there after NATO’s aggression against Libya, which ruined the statehood of this once prospering nation. We remember too well that it was the United States and France who stood in the avant-garde of this illegal military invasion. To divert attention from their own destructive role, these countries and their allies try to attribute everything to the poor economic and social situation of states, weak governance institutions and even climate change. However, these problems are by no means new. At the same time, they have not previously led to radicalization on such a large scale, nor have they encouraged terrorists to establish bases in the region. That changed when the collective West attacked and destroyed Libya to overthrow an unwanted government, rob the country off its natural and mineral resources, and spread the fire of "controlled chaos" across the Middle East and Africa.
The worst terrorist threat today is in the Sahel, and the West talks a lot about helping to combat this. However against this backdrop, reports have started to arrive about the cooperation of France with terrorist organizations that are active there, in particular “Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin”.
Getting back to socio-economic problems, we must not forget that they are a consequence of colonial and neo-colonial policies against African states.
Africa has all the resources it may need to develop harmoniously. It is important that those resources must stay on the continent rather than be taken away to help set up “heavenly gardens” out in the West. Efforts to counter colonialism and neo-colonialism must be carried through. African partners are well aware that our country does and always has supported them in that.
Mme.President,
We cannot but mention Afghanistan. The situation in that country is also a vivid example how the West used counter-terrorism issues for its own selfish geopolitical purposes.
For more than 20 years, US-led foreign troops remained in the country on the pretext of fighting terrorists – then it was Al-Qaida. Suddenly, they decided to flee, leaving behind a huge amount of weapons and military equipment. They failed to defeat Al-Qaida and not only that, for afterwards ISIL turned up in Afghanistan. So the weapons that Western forces had taken to the county to fight terrorism ended up, among other things, in the hands of terrorists themselves, threatening the peace and security of Central and South Asia. Once again, this is the familiar scenario of spreading "controlled chaos".
Mme.President,
In Ukraine, the West also uses terrorists and extremists for own geopolitical purposes. The United States and its European satellites have nurtured and raised neo-Nazis, whom they used as a battering ram to overthrow the legitimate government in a deadly coup d'état in 2014. Under Western guidance, they were allowed to strike roots in Ukraine's governance, law enforcement and military authorities. For many years, they terrorized the civilian population of Donbas under complete silence by Western media and, sad to say, UN mechanisms.
Today, the government of Ukraine, which survives only thanks to Western handouts, not only uses terrorist methods openly, but even brags about it.
Mme. President,
It is in such difficult circumstances that we have to deal with international cooperation in the fight against terrorism. While some are fighting this evil, others are fueling it in new ways and on new territories.
Russia will continue to build cooperation on issues of countering terrorism with all those who are ready for a constructive practical interaction aimed at a common goal of eradicating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, without hidden agendas and double standards.
We call for united efforts to increase the effectiveness and coordination of international cooperation in combating terrorism based on norms of international law, including the UN Charter and its provisions on sovereign equality of states and non-interference in their internal affairs.
Thank you.
