Saturday, February 15

Speech by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the OSCE A.K. Lukashevich at an expanded meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on a special military operation to protect people from genocide by the Kiev regime

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Dear Mr. Chairman,

On February 24, 2022, the President of the Russian Federation, within the framework of his powers and with the consent of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, decided to use the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as part of a special military operation to protect the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic. Of course, this is not a war, as many participants in today’s discussion are trying to imagine. No missile, aviation or artillery strikes are being carried out on Ukrainian cities or civilians. A special operation is being carried out, during which military infrastructure facilities that were previously used for the militarization of Ukraine and were somehow used by the regime in Kiev to support a brutal punitive operation against civilians in the south-east of Ukraine are being put out of operation by high-precision means. The positions of the AFU servicemen who have laid down their weapons are not under attack.

The main threat to the civilian population now comes not from the Armed Forces of Russia, the DPR or the LPR, but from the actions of the Ukrainian military and paramilitary nationalist formations that do not obey the Kiev leadership and are capable of any provocations.

The events were preceded by an extremely sharp aggravation of the situation on the territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, starting from February 17. The AFU units stationed there again went on the offensive along the entire contact line and engaged in intense clashes with the armed forces of the two republics. The AFU resumed shelling from large-caliber guns, and also forced the Seversky Donets River, tried to gain a foothold in new positions. Thus, the Ukrainian authorities defiantly refused any opportunities for political and diplomatic dialogue with the DPR and the LPR, once again attempting to solve the so-called “Donbass problem” by force.

In recent days, Russia has received tens of thousands of refugees, mostly women, children, and the elderly suffering from shelling.

All this forced the authorities of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, on the rights of sovereign states, to appeal to the leadership of the Russian Federation with a request for assistance in ending the armed violence unleashed by Kiev on the territories of the republics. The decision of the President of Russia was made in accordance with Article 51 of Part 7 of the Charter of the United Nations, with the sanction of the Federation Council and in pursuance of the treaties on friendship and mutual assistance with the DPR and the LPR ratified by the Federal Assembly on February 22, 2022.

The main purpose of the special military operation is to protect civilians from genocide and eight years of bullying by the Kiev regime.
Its irresponsible representatives unleashed an internal conflict against their own population, never finding the strength and desire to end it in a peaceful political way. We regret to state that the OSCE, with its numerous capabilities, has failed to cope with the task of promoting an internal Ukrainian settlement.

By the way, not a single conflict in the area of responsibility of our Organization has been settled by the OSCE itself. The crisis in Ukraine is the clearest confirmation of such an unsatisfactory situation. So, ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing to be proud of.

We do not accept the theses of the joint statement of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Z.Rau and OSCE Secretary General H.Schmid condemned Russia’s actions, which allegedly threaten the lives of millions of people. This is an erroneous and inappropriate reaction. We emphasize: over the years of Kiev’s military operation in Donbass, the OSCE leadership has not found it possible to condemn the actions of the Kiev regime, which in fact put millions of Donbass residents on the brink of life and death.

The current leadership of the OSCE has no moral or other right to condemn Russia’s actions, and even more so to hang any “labels”.

We emphasize again: today’s crisis is a consequence of the actions of the Kiev regime, which, instead of the promised peace, has relied on war and unrestrained militarization. In this they were supported and continue to be supported with redoubled force by foreign curators and political sponsors, issuing “carte blanche” for radical nationalism, Russophobia and the violent suppression of dissent in their own country.

Once again, we ask ourselves the question that has remained unanswered for many years: where were all the current champions of the “common values, principles and norms of the OSCE” when the coalition of NATO member countries carried out the monstrous bombing of the former Yugoslavia in 1999? Where was the reaction of the OSCE and the international community to this largest military operation in Europe since the Second World War? Let me remind you that the NATO countries, hiding behind humanitarian considerations, implemented it bypassing the UN Security Council. To put it bluntly, the activities of the OSCE Verification Mission in Kosovo, the head of which is an American U.Walker did everything possible to make tragic events happen.

In recent years, Ukraine has been intensively transformed into an advanced bridgehead of the North Atlantic Alliance, simultaneously defining the Russian Federation as an enemy in doctrinal documents. NATO’s military development of the territory of our closest neighbor, the policy of militarization of its territory, and the rupture of diverse historical ties between the peoples of Ukraine and our country can hardly be called a NATO contribution to strengthening pan-European security. Ukraine was essentially taken hostage to be used as a bulwark against Russia.

Neo-Nazi paramilitary groups, which have become the mainstay of the current regime in Kiev, have been terrorizing the population of their country for years. In post-Maidan Ukraine, none of them were held responsible, and many, on the contrary, received responsible government posts. Separately, today we will distribute material on the facts of human rights violations, discrimination, war crimes and ethnocide in Donbass.

In response to the threats made during the discussion today, we repeat the words of President Vladimir Putin from his address today: we are ready for any development of events. We hope that this time we will really be heard. We will add that we will strive for denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.

I ask you to attach this statement to the Journal of the day of today’s expanded meeting of the Permanent Council.

Thank you for your attention.

Source: https://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1800586/

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