Response by Mr. Alexander Pankin, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations at the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine
Thank you, Mr Chairman,I do not wish to engage in debates with the representative of Ukraine, but would nevertheless like to focus on just a few matters. I have already mentioned, and I reiterate, that a ceasefire and returning the situation to normalcy are our primary goals. This is something you have to believe in, and something you must strive for. Therefore, Mr Sergeyev, when we hear the statements that your representatives made in late October and early November, and recently, too, we have no confidence in Kiev being committed to a political and diplomatic solution to this conflict.
Right from the outset, we had the sense that the Kiev authorities were making no secret of the fact that they would use the ceasefire to regroup their troops and carry out other military tasks. To expand on what I said about one truth, I'd like to mention two quotes. The first is from Adviser to the President of Ukraine Yury Lutsenko. On 24 October, before the elections to the Verkhovna Rada, he said on TV: “The ceasefire and peace will work to our advantage. All four tank plants are working in three shifts. Several hundred repaired armoured vehicles arrived in the ATO area (the interpreters know what ATO means) during this time. We need a ceasefire to receive high-precision instruments, and military and financial aid from the West.” (unquote). Adviser to the head of the Ukrainian Security Service Lubkivsky, first on 2 November and then on 7 November said, also on television: “Sooner or later, we will have to take active actions,” adding that “overcoming the situation will take three to four years. I think we can win this war under the ‘Croatian scenario’. In 1991, Croatia started a war, and ended it in 1995 as a result of successful special operations.” (unquote). Those were not my words. We don’t hear anything about the implementation of the Minsk agreements. What we hear is words about winning on the battlefield.
My second point is that some actions do not help resolve the situation on your part. For example, a fairly serious issue of territorial delimitation was agreed upon by almost 80 percent. Suddenly, on 28 October, Ukrainian representative General Dumansky revoked his signature under the 80-percent-agreed line of the opposing forces, and did so without providing any explanations.
Finally, you asked me to answer right here and right now the question about why hundreds of units of Russian military equipment are concentrated near the Ukrainian border. First, I can’t answer this question properly, because I don’t know how true this statement is and where you are getting this information from. Monstrous figures. They made an impression in this audience. I was strongly impressed. I’m ready to provide a specific answer to this question. But you must agree that the Russian armed forces are located on the territory of my country. They do not threaten your country. They are moving within the territory of my country. Therefore, stoking passions in the Security Council to the effect that Ukraine is about to be massively invaded does not help in having a constructive dialogue, which everyone here stands for and calls for.
Thank you.
