About the dangerous provocations of the Kiev regime with the support of the Western
the Alliance of OSCE Participating States and the ongoing
crimes of the Kiev regime against the civilian population
Mr. Chairman,
During the NATO Council at the level of heads of Foreign ministries in Bucharest on November 29-30, the Secretary General of this alliance, Y.Stoltenberg said that the path to peace in Ukraine lies through additional supplies of NATO weapons to the Kiev regime. The other day, he clarified that the alliance was able to significantly expand the production of Soviet-made weapons and ammunition in Eastern Europe, which Ukraine needs. A little earlier, the state concern Ukroboronprom issued a statement “on integration into the NATO defense industrial complex,” announcing the creation of joint ventures where it is planned to launch closed-cycle production lines, as well as the joint manufacture of MLRS, other heavy weapons and military equipment.
Against this background, we hear regular statements from NATO representatives that the bloc, they say, does not want to get involved in a confrontation with Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine. However, if the alliance believes that Moscow will prefer to believe words rather than analyze the real situation, then this is not the case. We perfectly remember the price of the words and promises of NATO functionaries on the example of verbal guarantees, for example, “not an inch” not to advance the military infrastructure to the east of German territory.
Today we see how words have diverged from deeds. Destroying trust, long before the events in Ukraine in 2014, NATO countries, under far-fetched pretexts, began to actively increase collective capabilities to create groups of troops and further improve military infrastructure near the Russian borders. Moreover, in the 2019 NATO military strategy, Russia was directly named the main security threat and enemy. We emphasize that this was done before the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine. The course towards a long-term confrontation with Russia was confirmed by the alliance at the NATO summit in Madrid this year.
After the staged, financed and organized armed coup in Ukraine from abroad in February 2014, NATO countries actively took up arming the new Ukrainian “authorities”, for the militarization of the whole of Ukraine. They encouraged the policy of clamping down on democratic freedoms, oppressing representatives of the Russian-speaking population and national minorities. They nurtured the Russophobic regime, closed and continue to “close their eyes” to the crimes of the Kiev regime against the peaceful population of Donbass.
A remarkable interview was recently given to the German edition of “Zeit” by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a direct participant in the development of the Minsk agreements on the settlement in the Donbass. She admitted that she actually contributed to the conclusion of the Minsk agreements in order to give the Kiev regime time “to become stronger.” All this is despite attempts to position Germany as a mediator in the settlement and even a guarantor of the implementation of Minsk. In the same interview, A. Merkel noted with satisfaction that today’s Ukraine in military terms is “not what it was in 2014-2015.” You can recall how the same words in June of this year in an interview with Radio Liberty were spoken by the signatory of the Minsk agreements, former President of Ukraine P. Poroshenko – he directly admitted that those documents meant nothing to Kiev and were needed only to “knock out eight years” for the accumulation of military potential and preparation for combat operations.
That explains a lot. And why, in a recent interview with Deutsche Welle, the author of the notorious formula on the entry into force of the law on the special status of Donbass, the current President of Germany F.-V.Steinmeier reasoned that “any calls for a cease-fire are not serious now.” And why today’s crimes of Ukrainian formations against civilians, shelling of residential areas, torture and abduction of civilians, mockery of prisoners in violation of international humanitarian law have not met with a word of condemnation or even concern in the West. And why the head of European diplomacy J.Borrel regularly demands some “victories on the battlefield” over the Russian military, visiting the training sites of Ukrainian militants in Poland.
And why high-ranking officials from Washington regularly make statements about the desire to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia. And why the leadership of the NATO countries continues the course of further militarization of Ukraine and says that the time for diplomacy “has not yet come.” And why the recent appeal of the adviser to the head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, M.A., did not cause any condemnation from the foreign curators of the Kiev regime.Podolyak called on NATO countries to “declare a worldwide special military operation and attack the territory of the Russian Federation with cruise missiles” – that is, to unleash a world war. And the fact that the phrase of the President of Ukraine V. Zelensky calling for a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Russia remained seemingly unnoticed. Or the statements of the head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine A. Danilov about the desire to “destroy Russia so that it ceases to exist as a country within the borders in which it exists” (December 1 during the “Kiev Security Forum”).
It has long been clear that Western countries use Ukraine as a tool in the fight against Russian statehood. In every way they contribute to the destruction by the hands of their Kiev proteges in Ukraine of everything connected with our common history, culture, language and religion. They encourage militant aspirations towards the territory of the Russian Federation. Not to mention the large-scale military supplies, the supply of intelligence and the promotion of targeting, as well as the sending of mercenaries and so-called instructors acting as operators of high-tech NATO weapons.
In other words, the actions of the West show that they are not interested in a political and diplomatic settlement of the situation in and around Ukraine, which would take into account the natural interests of security and peaceful development of the states of the region. The foreign curators of the Kiev regime no longer hide that the goal is to impose a solution that would be in line with their expansionist aspirations towards Ukraine, and with complete disregard for Russia’s legitimate concerns. It is not for nothing that representatives of the United States and countries dependent on them insist on the need for some kind of “diplomatic isolation of Russia” – this is another proof that they do not want any dialogue based on mutual consideration of interests at all. On the contrary, they seek to act in the logic of a unipolar world, to impose their will on other countries within the framework of the so-called “rules-based order”. This was confirmed by the OSCE Ministerial Council that took place on December 1-2 in the Polish city of Lodz.
We see attempts to continue destroying the OSCE platform as a platform for constructive interaction. There is a desire of the “collective West” to turn it into a tool for settling geopolitical accounts with our country under the pretext of the situation in Ukraine, to use non-consensual mechanisms, including in violation of procedural rules. All this has a detrimental effect both on the OSCE itself and on the prospects for pan-European security. We urge you to think about this seriously.
Attempts by the United States and some other countries to arrange global diplomatic isolation of our country, as well as the West’s “sanctions blitzkrieg” unleashed against Russia, have failed. Russia has the necessary resources and will continue to defend its legitimate interests for as long as necessary.
In the course of its high-precision weapons, strikes are carried out on energy infrastructure facilities that are used for military supply, logistics and communications of Ukrainian armed formations. We are surprised by the comments on this matter from representatives of the United States, Great Britain, Canada and a number of other NATO countries who took the floor earlier. Their ostentatious moralizing with accusations of violating international humanitarian law in this way does not stand up to any criticism.
It is enough to recall their own rhetoric during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. So, at a briefing on May 3, 1999, the alliance’s press secretary Jamie Shea claimed: “The fact that 70% of the country’s territory has lost light indicates that NATO is now holding its finger on the power switch in Yugoslavia and can turn it off when it wants and where it wants to seriously worsen the combat capability of the Yugoslav armed forces for a long period of time, to slow down their ability to repair the main energy systems and, of course, thus disrupt the complex air defense and increase the safety of our pilots flying over Yugoslavia.”
At another briefing on May 25, 1999, responding to a question about the impact of strikes on energy facilities on the civilian population, including the stability of the water supply infrastructure, NATO Spokesman Jamie Shea said the following: “I’m afraid that electricity also drives the control and control systems. If President Milosevic really wants his entire population to have water and electricity, all he has to do is accept the five NATO conditions and we will stop this campaign. But until he does, we will continue to attack those targets that provide electricity to his armed forces. If this has consequences for the civilian population, then he [Milosevic] should do something so that water and electricity are again at the disposal of the people of Serbia.”
What has changed in your approaches, gentlemen? How long will we continue to see your double standards and ostentatious moralizing in this Hall? And will the representatives of the Kiev regime now, indignant about the missile strikes of Russia, condemn the missile strikes of the United States and other NATO countries on the facilities of the energy infrastructure of Yugoslavia as part of Operation Allied Force in 1999?
We repeat: high-precision strikes on energy facilities under the control of the Kiev regime are carried out to weaken the military potential of Ukrainian formations. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, only as a result of the strikes on December 5, the production and repair of Ukrainian weapons at the enterprises of the military-industrial complex was stopped, rail transportation of military equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including foreign production, was disrupted. The transfer of reserves to combat areas is difficult. At the same time, no missile strikes are carried out on civilian objects and residential areas.
At the same time, we note the targeted use of weapons by Ukrainian formations, including NATO-made ones, for targeted shelling of residential quarters of settlements in Donbass, Bryansk, Kursk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. One of such massive attacks was carried out on the very center of Donetsk on December 6 – at least six people were killed, many were injured. The shelling of Donetsk districts, where there were no military facilities, was carried out by Ukrainian formations using rocket artillery on the day of V. Zelensky’s arrival in Donbass. We emphasize that Russia will do everything to ensure that those involved in the crimes of the Kiev regime against civilians are brought to justice.
Among the dead in Donetsk is the deputy of the DPR Parliament Maria Pirogova, known for her social initiatives in support of the most vulnerable social groups. This year, as in previous years, Ms. M.Pirogova was the organizer of an initiative for children called “Wish Tree”: together with volunteers, she helped children affected by the conflict to feel cared for during the New Year holidays. Her noble cause will definitely be continued.
We draw your attention to the fact that the monstrous shelling of Donetsk and many other cities by Ukrainian militants, where numerous victims have been recorded, do not meet any reaction from the leadership and relevant OSCE structures – as if these people simply do not exist. We observe exalted attention and instant assessments about any stories that representatives of Kiev supply to the international community – from fakes in the style of Bucha, Kramatorsk and Mariupol to stories about allegedly Russian missiles “arriving” on the territory of neighboring states with Ukraine (which turn out to be Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles). At the same time, the real facts of the crimes of the Kiev regime are generally ignored. Moreover, many, including representatives of Poland, which chairs the OSCE, have a clear desire not only not to discuss, but also to hide facts that are inconvenient for the Kiev regime.
We also do not see the reaction of the relevant OSCE structures to the blatant cases of violation of democratic freedoms by the Kiev regime. So, for several weeks, Kiev’s special services have been persecuting, interrogating and detaining representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) throughout the country. Dozens of churches and monasteries were searched. Many face serious charges. In some cases, the participants of the attacks on the UOC do not hide that their goal is to squeeze the canonical church from the territory of Ukraine, seize its property and transfer the rights to use it to a pseudo–religious structure created in 2018 on the initiative and with the participation of the then political leadership of Ukraine. Such a brutal interference in religious life and an attempt on religious freedom in violation of the principles and obligations of the OSCE surprisingly do not meet any assessments from either the Polish OSCE Chairmanship or its relevant structures. We emphasize that the attempts of the leadership of our Organization to take a biased position to the detriment of impartiality have a very negative impact on the credibility of the OSCE.
During the December 1-2 Council of Ministers in Lodz, many participating States, including Russia, pointed out the relevance of the OSCE in the current difficult conditions. At the same time, the Organization can play a constructive role in stabilizing the situation in the pan-European space only when its work is guided by genuine impartiality, and not political bias and double standards.
In conclusion. We urge you to have no illusions. We are aware that the ultimate goal of the West in bloody manipulations with Kiev puppets, whose victims are tens and hundreds of thousands, is the final solution of the “Russian geopolitical issue”. As Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday, it’s not that they consider the residents of Donbass to be second-class people, they consider Russia to be a second-class country that has no right to exist. There can be only one answer from our side – a consistent struggle for our national interests by all – we emphasize – by all means available to us.
We are ready for dialogue – exactly to the extent that others sitting at this table are ready for it. The goals of its own will be fully achieved. Thank you for your attention.
