Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at the UN Security Council Meeting on Yemen

We thank SRSG Martin Griffiths and USG Mark Lowcock for their detailed reviews of the military and political, as well as humanitarian situation in the Republic of Yemen which make it clear that Yemen and its people are living through a grave humanitarian disaster.

As we heard from the briefers, the situation in the country remains dire. In Hodeidah there remains a fragile ceasefire, however there is intensifying military action in south Yemen that causes concern.

We call upon parties to the armed confrontation in Aden to solve the disputes they have through negotiations. Growing tension makes it difficult to establish dialogue with all interested political forces of the country based on balance of their legitimate interests and concerns, this tension only plays in hands of terrorist groups.

We support mediator efforts M.Griffiths takes in order to make sides to the conflict understand futility of a forceful solution, achieve universal ceasefire and develop confidence-building measures. In this regard, we welcome the regular session of the Redeployment Coordination Committee that is scheduled to take place on 7 September. We expect that negotiations and search for compromise solutions will help move forward in implementing the Stockholm Agreements.

Further deployment of the United Nations Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement and withdrawal of heavy weapons from the ports of Hodeidah, Saleef, and Ras Isa will both promote country-wide de-escalation and unlock other aspects of the Stockholm Agreements, including prisoner exchange and de-escalation in Taiz; it will also make it possible to move over to discussions of framework settlement parameters.

The humanitarian situation in Yemen, as we heard from Mark Lowcock, is continuously deteriorating to turn into a full-fledged humanitarian disaster. Humanitarian assistance to Yemen should be a priority track of our work. Let me stress: humanitarian assistance from abroad must be provided to the entire population of the republic, regardless of who controls this or that particular area.

We have profound concerns about UAV attacks on major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia launched on 14 September. We condemn in strongest terms attacks on non-military facilities and destruction of social and economic infrastructure.

Armed escalation threatens to complicate the search for peaceful resolution of the Yemeni problem and to grow into a large-scale regional confrontation. We urge all sides to remain reserved and to not let such incidents happen in the future. We recommend not to jump to conclusions as to who carried out the attack. This can further destabilize the situation both in Yemen and in the Middle East at large that is already quite complicated.

In conclusion, we would like to remind of Security Council resolution 598 that tasked the UN Secretary-General in cooperation with the regional States to develop confidence and security architecture in the region. In this context, the Russian collective security concept for the Persian Gulf becomes even more relevant, as it aims at conflict relief, building of confidence and control measures. Once again, we call upon all the interested sides to study this document and join the collective work aimed at search for mutually acceptable solutions to the regional problems.

Thank you.