August 8, 2024
Mr. President,
We thank Vladimir Voronkov and Natalia Gherman for their briefings on the activities by the UN Office on Counter-Terrorism and the the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate in assisting states in combating terrorist threats. We highly value their work in this crucial area and will continue to fully support it.
We closely studied the Secretary General’s latest report on the threats posed by ISIL. The information about the persistently high level of threat and evolving challenges is a wake-up call for us, which reminds us that terrorism can only be tackled by our joint efforts. But what is regrettable in this regard is that some states tend to politicize the anti-terrorist agenda. Double standards in the fight against terrorism, interference under the pretext of counter-terrorism in the internal affairs of sovereign states has become a calling card of Western countries, which do not shun using even international terrorist organizations for their geopolitical purposes. First, “tame” terrorists destabilize the situation in developing countries, then the West, in attempt to allegedly combat them, moves on to tested tactics of destroying the state with the view to plundering natural and human resources of the country.
Here are some specific examples, substantiated by the information contained in the Secretary General’s report.
Let us start with the situation in Syria. ISIL is scaling up its terrorist activity in this state. At the same time, terrorists are prospering precisely in those regions that are illegally seized and occupied by the US military. The US military bases deployed in Syria as a result of Western aggression against that country are being used, inter alia, to pump out and smuggle Syrian oil, or, let’s put it simply, to steal it. Around these bases, there emerge real terrorist ghettos.
In these areas there are also camps for ISIL-linked individuals and their families. The situation in these places is nothing but a humanitarian and food crisis. Our Western colleagues love speechifying about respect for human rights while implementing measures to combat terrorism. However, their declarative statements are at odds with what their actually do. Despite repeated calls in the Secretary General’s reports, most Western states persistently refuse to return their nationals held in such camps. EU countries have fallen flat in this endeavor, they are not fulfilling their obligations on repatriation, prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration of foreign terrorist fighters and their families.
Mr. President,
What also merits our attention is the activity of the ISIS-Khorasan terrorist group. Long ago, back when the United States and NATO military were present in Afghanistan, we warned about the possible danger of its growing potential. However, our warnings were deliberately ignored, the growth and influence of this group was downplayed. Moreover, the reports showed inaccurate information regarding the number of fighters of this Afghan ISIL “wing”, the territory under ISIS control, and connections of this terror group in the region. All figures provided were significantly lowered. As a result, the international community did not pay due attention to combating this terror group, and it continued to develop unhindered. Now ISIL-Khorasan poses a threat not only to Afghanistan and neighboring regions, but Europe as well.
By the way, we would warn our colleagues against linking the March 22 terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall near Moscow exclusively to ISIL and its wing “ISIL-Khorasan” until the official investigation ends. If they have evidence of this, we encourage them to share it with the specialized Russian bodies in charge. Sometimes we get the impression that some people know more about this terrorist attack than those who are investigating it.
Mr. President,
On the African continent, the situation with regard to terrorist activity is no less alarming. The Secretary General’s report highlights that terrorist groups continue to focus their activities on Africa.
The Monitoring Group’s regular report on sanctions against ISIL, Al‑Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities (now it is an annex to the Secretary General’s report), provides necessary details regarding the existing “merger” and terrorist activities in the region. It states that the constant takeover of territory by both ISIL-affiliated groups and the listed group Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) in the Sahel continues to claim many casualties and affect regional security and stability.
The report also contains information about JNIM’s intention to conclude a non-aggression agreement with the “The Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security, and Development” (CSP-PSD) to focus their efforts exclusively on the Malian armed forces and those who support them in the fight against terrorism in the north of the country. There is no longer any doubt that there is cooperation between these groups. They share the territory where they operate. The fact that these group are in close coordination with each other is evidenced also by the transfer of a member of The Arab Movement of Azawad (which is part of the Permanent Strategic Framework) and several dozen fighters to the JNIM. This fact is also reflected in the latest report of the Monitoring Group.
What also exacerbates the situation and leads to evolving existing threats is the absolute unwillingness of the countries concerned to at least try to camouflage their support for international terrorist organizations. Countries of the region have repeatedly exposed that France has systematically funded and trained fighters for the group. Moreover, JNIM was provided with intelligence information, weapons and ammunition.
There have been egregious cases of certain states openly bragging about their support for international terrorist organizations in Africa. What is worth mentioning here is the remarks by A. Yusov, spokesperson for the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, as well as by Y. Pivovarov, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Senegal. Ukrainian officials openly stated that their country provided support to those who attacked the Malian armed forces on the border with Algeria in the region of Tin Zaouatine on July 25-27. I’d like to stress that this attack was carried out, inter alia, by a group affiliated to al-Qaeda. The Sahel states were swift to react. The remarks by the Malian Government on that issue were disseminated as an official document of the Security Council on August 5. This was followed by official statements by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso and the representative of Niger. African states have strongly condemned Ukraine’s support for international terrorism on the continent and its blatant interference in their internal affairs leading to destabilization in the region. Thus, Mali and Niger are known to have severed diplomatic relations with Ukraine.
Even the Western press has already published materials confirming that the terrorist groups operating in Mali (although they are called “armed” groups) were trained to operate drones and handle explosives under the guidance of Ukrainian special services both on the territory of Ukraine and on the territory of Mali in the regions controlled by terrorists.
Colleagues,
We know firsthand about the terrorist essence of the Kiev regime. On multiple occasions, the Russian delegation has provided specific, fact-based information on the true face of the “Kiev regime” cherished by the West. Acting at the behest of, under the supervision of and in close co-operation with its NATO masters, this regime does not hesitate to use blatantly terrorist methods. We can currently see Ukraine’s true face in the Kursk region that has become subject to the terrorist attack by Ukrainian militants, perpetrated with weapons supplied by the West. There is ample evidence on the Internet of nationalists purposefully shooting at unarmed civilians and destroying civilian objects. Thus, they act just as their Nazi German predecessors did 80 years ago, whom they now worship. And they’ll end up just as ignominiously. Far from criticizing their terrorist actions, the Western patrons of Zelensky’s junta actually justify them. A terrorist “merger” indeed.
We have also repeatedly exposed information testifying to the fact that weapons supplied by Western countries to Ukraine can end up in the hands of criminal and terrorist groups in various regions of the world. The data we provided as a proof of this were confirmed by representatives of African states and European law enforcement agencies (for example, Europol).
We urge the specialized experts of the United Nations not to ignore this data at least now, but to carefully study them, and assess the role of Western special services and their Ukrainian underlings in organizing and facilitating such terrorist attacks.
Colleagues,
Furthermore, we would like to recall that the current 1267 Security Council sanction regime provides for the imposition of sanctions on any individuals, groups and organizations affiliated with ISIL and Al-Qaida. In order to combat terrorism, we consider important to use this well-established mechanism to bring to justice those who actively assist terrorists, especially those who do not hide connections with them. Otherwise, all the buzzwords and fine rhetoric about the need to fight international terrorism will sound fake.
Thank you