20 December 2024
Mr. President,
Given that this is your last meeting at the Council, allow me too to be very frank and direct. However, we have always been frank and direct with you, and you, as turns out, only today, as you have just told us. If the United States had not supported the 2014 coup in Kiev, had not sponsored it, had not made Ukraine into an “anti-Russia” and had not allowed the Kiev regime to sabotage the Minsk agreements (which is something that was announced openly by the politicians who were supposed to be the guarantors of the agreement), then there would have been no war at all. Neither would there have been any “Crimea” events if the authorities in Kiev (who came to power following the coup in Kiev) had respected the rights of all their citizens, rather than going against them with arms. Here I’m referring to the so-called anti-terrorist operation that was conducted with the help of the Ukrainian army, even though the Ukrainian Constitution incidentally prohibits such actions.
Mr. President,
Only in the few days that have elapsed since our last meeting on Ukraine of December 16, the trends in the Ukrainian crisis that we pointed out at that meeting have become even more discernable. They can be summed up in the following manner. On the one hand, we have the US administration, which flopped hard in the elections, but is feverishly trying to use up all the remaining funds to provide assistance to Ukraine. Yet, the actions of American politicians – “lame ducks” – run totally counter to what was proclaimed by the US president-elect, who will take office in exactly one month, on January 20. On the other hand, the expired Ukrainian president, who is losing on the battlefield, is doing his utmost to derail any peace initiatives and provoke Russia into a dramatic escalation of the conflict.
Over the recent days, the former Ukrainian comedian has managed to take at least three steps in the opposite direction from a peaceful resolution of the conflict. The first step was taken on December 18, when an explosion in Moscow – organized upon the instructions of the Kiev regime – killed general Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces, and his assistant. The perpetrator of the terrorist attack was apprehended the very next day. He confirmed that he had been recruited by the Ukrainian special services to do that. This crime fully bears out the hatred-driven terrorist nature of the current Ukrainian leadership. Yet, the Western patrons of Kiev are complicit in this and other similar crimes against representatives of the Russian military, creative and political elite. These patrons are hypocritically trying to ignore what is going on in Ukraine, thus betraying those principles that they have constantly proclaimed internationally.
In this regard, I would like to mention that gen. Kirillov on many occasions provided facts confirming Washington’s military-biological activities in Ukraine. And we have every reason to believe that all those (now defunct) US biological laboratories – which are located all over the world by the way – were used to develop biological weapons. We would like to assure Kiev’s American puppeteers that our investigations into this issue will not seize with the death of Mr. Kirillov. It is crucial to expose those who conducted inhumane experiments on the Ukrainians, endangering the entire region.
The second step to escalate the situation was undertaken by the leader of the Kiev junta yesterday, when he authorized yet another shelling of facilities inside Russia using Western long-range weaponry. On December 18, ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles were used to strike a facility in the Rostov region. All missiles were destroyed by the Russian air defense; one missile, which strayed off course, inflicted some damage on a technical premise. When launching this strike, the Kiev regime knew that such actions would inevitably be retaliated. And it did happen in the early hours of today – a multiple attack using long-range precision weapons was launched against the Ukrainian army’s command post – Kiev’s Luch design bureau, which was engaged in missile development – as well as against a nearby Patriot anti-aircraft missile system. The targets of the strike were reached, all facilities were hit, and several Ukrainian top-brass people were reportedly eliminated.
And the third step by the Kiev regime towards escalation is the massive missile strike on the peaceful town of Rylsk in the Kursk region, which was launched this afternoon local time using HIMARS. Among the targets of this attack were a local culture center, a stadium, a teacher’s college, a school, and a fire station. As of now, six people have been killed, including one child, and 10 injured are in hospitals. As you understand, our response to this targeted crime against peaceful Russian citizens will not be long in coming.
By acting this way, Zelensky is ignoring the interests and opinions of his citizens, a significant number of whom are now speaking against new escalatory steps, since such steps may lead to the destruction of new enterprises and energy facilities, which are important for the Ukrainian economy. As a result, many experts now question Ukraine’s ability to survive the winter; however, the former comedian, who has lost his legitimacy but is still clinging on power, is ready to gamble with his country that he has held hostage, and sacrifice all of its citizens.
His loyal hellhounds are daily capturing dozens of Ukrainians, who are unwilling to fight, and throw them to the frontline. This, of course, impacts the quality and morale of the Ukrainian army. As a result, according to the Ukrainian military commanders themselves, by the end of November, the number of deserters amounted to 200 thousand people, with 85 thousand Ukrainian military deserting in November alone, which is three times as high as in October. Ukrainian military personnel which are being trained abroad are also deserting – in Poland alone, an average of 12 people leave the training grounds every month. France reported that half of the Anna Kievskaya brigade, which had been trained in that country, left the battlefield and the rest of the brigade was disbanded. And this is the elite of the Ukrainian army. Furthermore, the losses of the Ukrainian army in 2024 exceeded 560 thousand servicemen (killed or wounded), and since the beginning of 2022 that number is over one million.
The Western masters of Ukraine are trying to ignore all this. For example, outgoing US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who was at this chamber yesterday, literally demanded the other day that Kiev start mobilizing 18-year-olds (currently Ukrainians thrown to the front are over 26 years old). At the same time, Boris Johnson – the one who prevented Russia and Ukraine from making peace in March, 2022 – acknowledged in an interview that the West is waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
Do you remember what US Senator Lindsey Graham said about it? In September, 2023, he called US assistance to Ukraine “a great deal for America.” “We haven’t lost one soldier; we have reduced the combat capacity of the Russian army…” – he triumphed then in Kiev. And the other day, U.S. Army Col. Todd Schmidt cynically acknowledged in a report that the war in Ukraine had become an “open laboratory” for the US military.
Mr. President,
When Mr. Graham called the military campaign in Ukraine a “good deal,” it was not a figure of speech. It is well known that Ukraine has become a genuine gold mine for the military-industrial complex of the Anglo-Saxon countries and their allies. But it is American companies that are profiting the most from the conflict.
According to the latest data, half of total arms sales in 2023 were processed by 41 US corporations out of the top 100. They received $317 billion, or 50% of global arms sales revenues. Overall, the revenues of the world’s 100 major weapons manufacturers in 2023 reached $632 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). It would be naïve to expect that these unscrupulous traders, who have tasted the flavor of lucre, will give up riding this gravy train for the sake of those miserable Ukrainians.
At the same time, military companies way often act in cahoots with the Kiev regime. For example, after the conflict started, 25 foreign lobby and consulting companies began to represent Ukraine’s interests free of charge. One of such companies is BGR Government Affairs, and its leadership has publicly called for increasing military assistance to Kiev. By the way, one of their clients is the largest US-based arms supplier and exporter, the Raytheon Company. There is also one more method that the US military-industrial complex resorts to – namely financing think tanks whose conclusions are then quoted by the media.
Apart from making money on frantic sales of their weapons to the Ukrainians (well, they are in a hurry as they need to pull it off before Trump’s inauguration), they also have no scruples about making money on American citizens by driving up the prices of their goods. Despite the fact that it can be detrimental to the well-being of Americans, the outgoing Democratic administration is playing up with the arms corporations. Especially since it is on the American military-industrial complex that Washington spent most of the $100 billion.
And here’s how this problem was commented on by independent Senator Bernie Sanders. He said that the major defense contractors regularly padded the prices by 40% for Pentagon, and sometimes by incredible 4000%. In October, RTX Corporation (the Raytheon I mentioned earlier is part thereof) was fined $950 million for artificially hiking the prices for the Department of Defense. They provided false information about their costs, they bribed to secure contracts. Mr. Sanders also lamented: “When it comes to improving life for the working class in this country, what do I hear? “No, no, no, we can’t afford it.” But when it comes to the military-industrial complex? “Yes, yes, yes” – with almost no debate.”
We have already discussed in detail at the last meeting why this criminal crew, including the man in the green fufaika, is so afraid of the audit of the funds provided to Ukraine, which was promised by the Trump team. The EU will be also well-advised to have a thorough audit, since – according to Ursula von der Leyen – it has already invested $130 billion in the Ukrainian project, $47.3 billion of which is military aid. Bernie Sanders’ words only illustrate the level of corruption that goes hand in hand with the supply of Western weapons to the Kiev regime. We are discovering more and more details of this criminal business. The other day, for example, it was announced that the audit by the US Department of Defense revealed that there was an incorrect inventory of Javelin missiles supplied to Kiev. The Pentagon had to admit that the whereabouts of more than half of the Javelin and Stinger missiles sent to Ukraine remain unknown. We can help our American colleagues to find out where they are – you will find them on the darknet. Terrorists of all stripes are actively buying them up there, possibly so as to use them in regional conflicts somewhere in Africa or even in some American or European airport. We warned you about this.
Distinguished Colleagues,
It is hard to say where Ukraine will end up with all these smoke and mirrors of its illegitimate leader, who is erroneously asserting that he is ready for peace, while in fact doing everything to escalate the conflict. As we have repeatedly stated, peace for him is the worst possible scenario, because if it the case he will have to stand for elections and subsequently lose power, since, according to some polls, he enjoys only 11% support of Ukrainian citizens. And then he will be held accountable for all the crimes he committed against his people, making them a pawn in the great game of the West against Russia. That is why he fears any negotiations like plague, and rejects one peace initiative after another, just as he did this week with regard to the proposal by Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban to have a Christmas truce and PoWs exchange.
The real attitude of the Kiev clique to any negotiations was recently expressed by Andrey Yermak, head of Zelensky’s presidential office and a kingmaker of Zelensky’s regime. He said that real negotiations on lasting peace will only start “after Russia have completely exhausted its resources to proceed with military action”. Let me translate this for you into human language: it means “never.” We are familiar with the true face of this “crew” that has seized power in Ukraine, and therefore we have no illusions whatsoever. All the more so, as we have repeatedly stated, we don’t need a frozen conflict, what we need is a long-term and fair resolution of the conflict and the eradication of all its root causes. Everybody is well aware of what root causes I am talking about.
Therefore, my advice to all of you who hope that military activities will stop: Please not harbor any unfounded illusions about the real intentions of the comedian Zelensky. We never harbored any illusions, and therefore we go on with our special military operation, and all its goals will be attained.
In conclusion, I would like to touch upon one more point. Earlier this month, the United States delegation insisted on holding a meeting on Ukrainian children whose rights Russia is allegedly violating. Then, we drew the attention of our colleagues to the fact that, in contradistinction to the trumped-up narrative about Ukrainian children (which the Western sponsors of the Kiev regime are using to vilify Russia), there are other children-related topics that require the attention of the Security Council. In particular, the situation of children in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole. At the time, we called on the United States to hold a meeting on this topic before its presidency ends.
Of course, our American colleagues did not heed this appeal of ours. The fate of the children of Gaza is of no interest to them, and the topic is inconvenient for their strategic ally, Israel. We believe that such double standards are unacceptable at the Security Council. We therefore are going to request a meeting on Palestinian children in January, and we would ask the incoming Algerian presidency to keep that in mind while planning their work.
Thank you.