Read excerpts from the statement by Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the OSCE M.Buyakevich (meeting of the OSCE PC, 29.02.2024)
On increasing military involvement of certain NATO member States in yet more confrontation in and around Ukraine
We witness the growing involvement of NATO countries in the armed confrontation in and around Ukraine. Irresponsible statements continue to be heard from some capitals about discussing plans to send regular military units to participate in hostilities against the Russian military, who continue to carry out tasks to liberate the constitutional territory of the Russian Federation in the Donbass and lower Dnieper region from Ukrainian neo-Nazi formations. Any considerations about sending NATO troops to Ukraine are not only irresponsible in nature, but are also a deliberate step towards increasing the level of military escalation - both in the Ukrainian conflict and on the European continent as a whole.
We record a systematic increase in the degree of escalation by NATO countries in relation to the conflict in and around Ukraine. More and more lethal weapons are being transferred to the Kiev regime. Now, those who have very poorly studied the sad historical experience of Napoleon and Hitler, have introduced into the discourse the idea of supplementing the proxy war at the hands of Ukrainians with the direct participation of NATO troops in hostilities against Russian soldiers.
The Western countries' bet on internal political destabilization in our country did not work. On the contrary, at a critical time for the fate of our Motherland, Russian society, as had often happened in the history of our country, only united even more.
The other day, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Defense Policy, J. Borrell, admitted: the era of global dominance of the West finally ended with the beginning of the Russian special military operation and the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Such a revelation by J. Borrell means recognition of the collapse of the Western efforts to isolate Russia in the international arena and of its attempts to subordinate the policies of the countries of the “global South” to geopolitical interests of the West.
We express our gratitude to representatives of the diplomatic corps, academic circles and the public who showed interest in the round table organized on February 26 by the Russian Permanent Mission to the OSCE, dedicated to the ten-year anniversary of the tragic events on the Kiev “Maidan” and the armed conflict caused by them in Ukraine and around it. During the event, which was open to everyone in the OSCE, direct witnesses of those events from Donbass and Novorossiya shared data on the crimes of the post-Maidan Kiev regime and the current situation in the region. Representatives of the Western OSCE participating States tried to disrupt this event; they are afraid of an honest discussion, regularly organizing their own “get-together meetings” within the OSCE with the limited participation.
The Russian military special operation is a forced measure carried out against the backdrop of many years of militarization of Ukraine by NATO countries, their projection of threats from its territory to neighboring sovereign states, as well as the encouragement and whitewashing by Western elites of numerous crimes of the Kiev regime against civilians. Articles now appearing in the Western press confirm what Russian representatives have been saying for years: the “exploitation” of Ukraine by Western intelligence services and military departments and its transformation into an instrument of the fight against Russia began long before February 2022.
A lasting and just peace in Europe and the world without taking into account Russia’s security interests is impossible in principle – no matter how much our opponents strive for the opposite. Let us emphasize once again: they bear full responsibility for increasing the level of escalation in the Ukrainian conflict and military tension in Europe as a whole.
Russia has repeatedly stated the need to form a fair multipolar world order, announced its readiness to achieve the goals of demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine as well as the elimination of threats to the security of our country, created by NATO countries from its territory, through political and diplomatic means. And if such readiness is not reciprocated, the special operation will be continued through military means until the assigned tasks are fully completed.