29 July 2022
Mr Presdient,
Thank Ronaldo for the thoughtful remarks on behalf of the Council for Geraldine, I echo your words and I reiterate my personal pleasure and honor to have had the chance to work with such a seasoned diplomat. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors dear Geraldine.
Let me thank USG DiCarlo for this update information on Ukraine.
The Russian aggression has entered its 6th month.
It constitutes a blatant breach of the International law and the UN Charter and is aiming to wipe Ukraine from the map, is destroying cities, railroads, bridges, government offices, hospitals, schools, cultural monuments, industry, farms and ports.
It is attacking the quintessence of Ukraine’s economy, it has assaulted the backbone of the country.
Colleagues,
Article 2 of the U.N. Charter prohibits the use of force against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of another state. Russia violates it.
ICJ issued last March an Order calling Russia to immediately halt its military operations. Russia disregards it.
The UN General Assembly called on Russia to stop the war. Russia ignores it.
Russia continues to claim that there is no war in Ukraine and – as recently as last June – the foreign Minister told the BBC that his country had not invaded Ukraine, despite more than 12 thousand and counting civilian victims;
despite uninterrupted shelling with widespread and deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure;
despite vast Ukrainian land temporarily occupied through massive bombardments and a scorched-earth campaign, which amounts close to 20% of the territory of Ukraine that is not under the control of a legitimate government, elected by the people of Ukraine, not chosen by the Kremlin.
Just because we are used to this mantra, here and elsewhere, this doesn’t make it less outrageous: whatever Russia may say, there is no legal ground, no moral justification or any other possible excuse for this unprovoked war of aggression. Because it is a pure act of aggression.
Colleagues,
We remain concerned about steps Russia is taking to institutionalize and perpetuate control in the occupied territories in Ukraine by a policy of social engineering.
The Moscow-imposed authorities in Kherson say they plan to ask the Kremlin to formally annex the region to Russia.
The response comes in the form of “locals should decide their own fate”, which credits reports that Russia may be planning to hold a referendum in the city. Russia is already introducing its own currency, media and internet services into Kherson – and other occupied parts of Ukraine.
Just like in Crimea. The same old playbook! No need to reinvent the wheel for territory grab.
By doing so, Russia has again outdone itself in the assembly line of artificial entities, that has become its modus operandi as we have seen before, by staging fake referendums, or any other such form of sham legal simulation to mushroom pseudo republics here and there.
Annexation by force is and will remain a violation of the U.N. Charter; it will bear consequences for those responsible in the framework of the accountability process and will not be accepted.
Any purported annexation, whatever its cover, is premeditated, illegal and illegitimate.
We remain equally concerned by reports on forced population transfers, including hundreds of thousands of children via the so-called “filtration process.” As described in detail in the report of OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism released earlier this month, more than 1.4 million Ukrainians have been transferred into Russia, passing through so-called filtration centers.
Let’s recall that mass forcible transfer of civilians during a conflict to the territory of the occupying party is prohibited under the 1949 Geneva Conventions. It constitutes a war crime.
We reiterate our call on Russia to stop the war, to withdraw all its forces from Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and territorial waters.
Dear Colleagues,
We don’t need reminding, the war in Ukraine is also having a devastating global impact. By deliberately destroying Ukraine’s agricultural and transport infrastructure and equipment, by blocking its ports, Russia has endangered food security for millions of people across the world. This is now a fact. Russia has weaponized grain just like it is doing with its natural gas.
This war has threatened European security; by weaponizing gas and asserting energy coercion, Russia is also testing the European resolve and resilience as winter approaches.
Albania welcomes the progress achieved in the talks last week in Istanbul with the mediation of Türkyie and the United Nations, to open up the Black Sea for Ukrainian exports of grains.
The news brought a sense of relief for many in the world, as for the first time in 5 months of war, something positive was in sight. We wanted to believe, as we do, that diplomacy and dialogue are always better than war.
Alas, it took less than 24 hours after the deal to see a cynical attack of the port of Odessa. The message that those missiles brought was clear: we are bound by nothing, we can strike anywhere, anytime.
It is thus difficult to blame those who say that promises from Russia, oral or written, are worthless. Ukraine has learned it the hard way. In 1994, Ukrainians gave up the world’s third-largest arsenal of nuclear weapons on Russia’s promise to guarantee Ukrainian security. Documents were signed but they turned out to be only papers. In 2014 and again in 2022 the Russia invaded the same country.
We hope nonetheless that the grain deal will go through, and will be quickly implemented and in full, for the sake of millions. Most of them are living in developing countries, who have seen what it is like when Russia enters your dining room, who are now unsure that they will have food on the table when they wake up the next day.
Colleagues,
Ukraine is the most serious stress-test of the rules based international order.
It is the boiling point between tyranny and the free world, a struggle between strategic corruption and democracy, a battle between the right to choose and the might to impose.
Its outcome will be paramount not only for Ukraine but for all of us.
Thank you!