Statement by right to response by Head of Russian delegation at the 33rd session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov

First of all, we would like to note the unacceptable situation with the announcement of the European Union’s statement at the beginning of the current session. It was originally intended that it would be read out by the Belgian EU Presidency. However, this was done by the head of the Mission of the European Union in Vienna, which is contrary to the current rules. If Permanent Representative of Belgium for some reason could not personally read the text, she would have to give the corresponding instruction to one of her subordinates, but in no way delegate this function to the head of another diplomatic mission. Such tricks, which go against the established order, are completely unacceptable. The Secretariat of the Commission was obliged to prevent such a gross violation of the rules of procedure. We expect that this is exactly what the Secretariat will do in the future.

Now to the point. The European Union and a number of national delegations allowed themselves a number of rude and unfounded statements towards the Russian Federation in the Ukrainian context. Once again, Western countries are trying to impose on the whole world the impression that the aggravation of the situation occurred at the end of February 2022 and was allegedly not provoked by anything or anyone. We regard this as a clumsy attempt to divert attention from the destructive role of the European Union and other Western countries in the Ukrainian tragedy. Such attempts are completely futile, since it is well known how events actually developed. Dozens and hundreds of indisputable facts can be cited on this score, but taking into account the limitations on the duration of the speech, we will highlight three specific circumstances that speak for themselves. Firstly, the crisis of Ukrainian statehood began to unfold at the beginning of 2014 with an anti-constitutional coup, which was actively supported by Western countries, and the intensification of Kiev’s repressive policy towards national minorities, with a favorable attitude towards this from Western countries. Secondly, it was Kiev and its leading Western partners that disrupted the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which were approved by the UN Security Council and provided a chance for a peaceful resolution of the crisis while ensuring the rights of national minorities in Ukraine. According to the former leaders of Germany and France, who personally participated in the Minsk negotiations, in the process of developing peace agreements they did not have in mind achieving peace at all, but only sought to gain time to prepare Ukraine for a large scale war. Thirdly, we must not forget that the UK, the USA and the EU leadership torpedoed peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in April 2022, prohibiting Kiev from signing a peace agreement, which by that time had already been practically agreed upon and initialed by both parties. Accordingly, it is the West that bears full responsibility for the fact that the armed conflict, which could have been resolved more than two years ago, continues to this day.

In conclusion, we would like to draw attention to the fact that at the beginning of 2024, the International Court of Justice actually rejected all claims of Ukraine against Russia under the conventions on racial discrimination and genocide and on the fight against the financing of terrorism. The International Court refused to consider Russia an «aggressor», the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as «terrorist organizations», and assistance to them as «financing terrorism». This, among other things, finally delegitimized the Ukrainian «anti-terrorist operation» of 2014-2022, which resulted in the death of more than 14 thousand people, including women, elderly people and children.

So the West’s assertion about Russia’s supposedly «unprovoked invasion of Ukraine» is completely cynical and aims to hide the extremely unsightly and destructive role of Western countries in the emergence and development of this conflict situation.

Thank you for your attention.