MINSK, 15 November (BelTA) - Belarus' Permanent Representative in the UN Valentin Rybakov spoke at the 11th Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly, where a group of countries discussed a draft resolution on Russian reparations for Ukraine, BelTA has learned.
The diplomat said that Belarus strongly objected to the procedure for introducing the proposed draft resolution. “The total lack of inclusiveness and transparency without any consultation convinces us once again that the Western countries have completely abandoned the principles of multilateralism, integrity and cooperation in the UN,” he said.
Valentin Rybakov said that Belarus was at the origins of both the Minsk agreements and the set of measures to implement them - Minsk-2. Throughout the conflict, Belarus did its best to organize negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, including within the Trilateral Contact Group.
“Did the Western states, the so-called guarantors of the aforementioned Minsk agreements, really want to resolve the situation? The answer today, unfortunately, is quite obvious. The approval of the coup d'etat in 2014, the provocation of the eight-year-long escalation of the conflict in Donbass, the support for Ukraine in its refusal to implement the Minsk agreements, the transformation of Ukraine into anti-Russia, and the pumping of Ukraine with weapons created all the prerequisites for both countries to become an existential threat to each other,” the diplomat stated.
“The collective West has never tried to persuade Ukraine to comply with the Minsk agreements. The Western states - the guarantors of the agreements - have not fulfilled their obligations. If they had done it, we would not be discussing this problem here today,” Valentin Rybakov stressed.
According to him, the main task of the Western states was to weaken Russia as much as possible and to create conditions in which Russia could not but respond.
“The draft document does not stand up to any criticism from the point of view of international law. It is just an attempt to legalize the theft of assets of others. It is also a very good, clear example for all of us, for all those who still believe that private property is sacred in the West,” said the Belarusian diplomat.
In his words, the draft document fails to mention the crimes committed by the colonial powers over the centuries, the consequences of slavery and the extermination of entire peoples living in the occupied territories. “No one has ever paid and will never pay any reparations to the countries and peoples for the damage, which, by the way, cannot be assessed, and for all the suffering that these countries and peoples,” said Valentin Rybakov.
There is not a single word in the draft resolution about the current economic terrorism - illegal blockades, illegal sanctions, attempts to economically strangle whole countries and peoples, the diplomat said.
He recalled that the UN leadership recently noted that the war in Ukraine was only one of nearly 30 armed conflicts in the world today. “The General Assembly should not make an exception for one conflict, no matter how grave it is, should not put it above the interests of developing countries, which bear the heaviest consequences of wars, including foreign intervention, slavery and colonialism,” Valentin Rybakov said.
Summing up, he concluded that the proposed document would not bring the parties to peace, but only polarize them even more. That is why Belarus is going to vote against the draft resolution.
