Mr. Konstantin Gavrilov, Head of the Delegation of the Russian Federation to the Vienna negotioations on military security and arms control on situation in and around Ukraine, 23 September 2020

STATEMENT BY MR. KONSTANTIN GAVRILOV,

HEAD OF THE DELEGATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

TO THE VIENNA NEGOTIATIONS ON MILITARY SECURITY AND ARMS CONTROL,

AT THE 955th PLENARY MEETING OF THE OSCE FORUM FOR SECURITY CO-OPERATION

23 September 2020

Agenda item: General statements

Subject: Situation in and around Ukraine

Madam Chairperson,

Our position regarding the internal Ukrainian conflict remains unchanged – there needs to be full implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures of 12 February 2015 through direct dialogue between the Ukrainian Government and the authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk. The Russian Federation, as a mediator alongside the OSCE, France and Germany, stands ready to facilitate this in every possible way.

The past two months have seen the longest period of relative calm in Donbas since the Ukrainian Government’s punitive operation against the population of south-eastern Ukraine began in 2014. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the number of security incidents along the line of contact has decreased by more than half thanks to the additional measures to strengthen the ceasefire regime that came into effect on 27 July. Suffice to say that 50 residential buildings were damaged in Donbas in July, whereas not a single one has suffered damage since the start of August.

In the light of this, it is disappointing to note the destructive position of the Ukrainian Government, which, at the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) held via videoconference on 16 September, effectively disavowed the agreement on additional measures. The delegation of Ukraine was unable to give clear explanations as to why the inspection that was to have been conducted in the area of the settlement of Shumy together with representatives of Donbas and with OSCE participation had been derailed. Moreover, it then reiterated its refusal to allow such an inspection to take place. The actions of the Ukrainian negotiators have merely served to confirm that the Ukrainian Government has something to hide there. We would remind you that in its September reports the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) has been reporting on instances it has detected of fortifications being erected near that settlement by the Ukrainian armed forces. In view of the Ukrainian Government’s reluctance to implement the decisions agreed on, and given also the aforementioned violations recorded by the SMM monitors, it is proposed to review the entire list of additional security measures at the next TCG meeting.

As a co-mediator in the peace process, Russia is deeply concerned about this latest manifestation of Ukraine’s perfunctory approach towards the fulfilment of its obligations. One must not forget that the armed confrontation in Donbas has already claimed the lives of more than 13,000 people. The massive loss of civilian life, unceasing violations of human rights, and instances of abuse and torture by the Ukrainian military have all been recorded in reports by authoritative international organizations. Further prolongation of the violence in Donbas is unacceptable.

The Ukrainian Government should put an immediate stop to the punitive operation against the civilian population of Donbas, withdraw its weapons and move them to the designated storage sites, disarm all illegal groups, and pull foreign military equipment and mercenaries out of Ukraine. The inhumane socio-economic blockade of Donbas should be lifted and the region itself granted special status as a matter of urgency. All of Ukraine’s obligations under the Minsk agreements must be fulfilled. Political and security measures are closely interlinked and should be implemented simultaneously. Without resolving the political issues, a comprehensive settlement of the crisis in Ukraine is impossible. We emphasize the direct responsibility of the Ukrainian Government for the practical implementation of all aspects of the Minsk Package of Measures and the instructions issued at the “Normandy format” summit held in Paris on 9 December 2019.

Ukraine’s contemptuous attitude towards the fulfilment of its commitments under OSCE politico-military instruments is deeply troubling. There is copious evidence of violations by the Ukrainian Government of provisions of the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security. Military activities are conducted in the south-east of the country that at various times have involved troop strengths in the order of 70,000 personnel along with large quantities of heavy equipment. What is more, the Ukrainian Government does not provide the notifications required by the Vienna Document 2011 and does not invite observers to that area. We would recall that voluntary transparency measures are no substitute for the implementation of mandatory Vienna Document provisions.

Madam Chairperson,

The continuing crisis in Ukraine is the result of the February 2014 coup d’état, which was orchestrated, funded and organized from abroad and has led to the armed confrontation in Donbas and the suffering of millions of Ukrainian civilians. For more than six years now, the Ukrainian Government’s Western partners have not really sought to promote a real cessation of hostilities and a political settlement of the crisis. On the contrary, they are in fact giving the Ukrainian Government the green light to commit war crimes in eastern Ukraine and inciting it to further armed violence; they are training the Ukrainian army and beefing it up with weapons and equipment, which then end up in the zone of armed confrontation. Such actions contravene the letter and the spirit of the OSCE Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons, they run counter to the CSCE Principles Governing Conventional Arms Transfers, and they also give a boost to the “war party” in Kyiv with its belligerent aspirations regarding Donbas.

We have noted an intensification of military exercises conducted by Ukraine “in tandem” with its foreign partners. Last week, the United States-Ukrainian command and staff exercise “Rapid Trident 2020” featuring instructors from NATO countries got under way at the Yavoriv military training ground in the Lviv region, as did the “Fiction Urchin” exercise near Vinnytsia, which involves special operations forces from the United States Air Force. This week, the large-scale strategic command and staff exercise “Joint Endeavour 2020” is taking place in the Black Sea region; military units from the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Canada have travelled there to take part in it. Significantly, over in London they are making no secret of the fact that the landing of British paratroopers in southern Ukraine is the largest airborne landing operation conducted by the Royal Air Force in recent memory. The provocative thrust of the aforementioned training events is evidently not conducive to the de-escalation of tensions in Ukraine that the country’s Western partners so often call for.

We would emphasize that participating States that provide military-technical assistance in any form to the Ukrainian Government share responsibility with the Ukrainian military for the casualties among the civilian population and for the destruction in Donbas. We urge our partners to fulfil their obligations under the OSCE politico-military instruments fully and responsibly, something they themselves regularly advocate.

We call on the OSCE, our international partners and Ukraine’s external “minders” to bring their influence to bear on the Ukrainian leadership in order to induce it to take practical steps towards swift implementation of the provisions of the Package of Measures (endorsed by the United Nations Security Council) in a full and co-ordinated manner on the basis of direct and sustainable dialogue between the Ukrainian Government and the authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I request that this statement be attached to the journal of the day.