YouSaid · the spoken record

Lavrov

lines on the record: 2,533
first: 1994-09-23
most recent: 2023-09-20
sittings or episodes: 322
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Kyiv has ignored the timid recommendations of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe with regard to amending the legislation. In turn, those multilateral bodies did not find the courage, or maybe were not allowed to, to convince the Ukrainian authorities to fulfil their international human rights obligations. Ukraine’s Ministry of Education has excluded the Russian language and Russian literature from the school curriculum. Books in Russian are being destroyed, just like in Nazi Germany, and monuments to Russian writers and poets are being dismantled. The ideology of intolerance towards ethnic Russians is being imposed with the support of the authorities.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“In recent years, the Kyiv regime has launched a wide-scale frontal attack on the Russian language. It brazenly trampled on the rights of the Russian and Russian-speaking population of Ukraine. Scandalous language laws were enacted — the “On Education” law in 2017, the “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language” law in 2019, the “On the Comprehensive General Secondary Education” law in 2020, and the “On the Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine” law in 2021. All of those laws are aimed at displacing the Russian language and, essentially, banning it altogether. At the same time, laws were adopted that promoted the theory and practice of Nazism.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“Poroshenko, was even more direct: he proudly stated in public, with regard to the Minsk agreements, which he co-authored and signed, that neither he nor anyone else in Ukraine had any intention of implementing them. He stated that the agreements were simply needed to win time in order to obtain weapons from the West for the war against Russia. The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Mr. Danilov, recently said something very similar. Of course, the Kyiv regime owes its impunity to its Western sponsors, first and foremost Germany and France, but also the United States. Instead of demanding that the Kyiv authorities implement the Minsk agreements, Berlin, Paris and Washington cynically ignored the growing threats of Kyiv to resolve the Donbas problem by force — the so-called “plan B”.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“While hypocritically claiming to be committed to the Minsk agreements, the Kyiv authorities have openly and with impunity sabotaged their implementation. A financial, transport and energy blockade was imposed on the Donbas. Its residents were cut off from social benefits, pensions, salaries, banking services, communications, education and health care. They were deprived of their basic civil rights, including those guaranteed by the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as their civil and political rights. Finally, tired of pretending, Mr. Zelenskyy stated the Minsk agreements were only needed to maintain sanctions imposed against Russia. In fact, a couple of months ago, his predecessor, Mr.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“We recall how, in 2015, the then Prime Minister, Mr. Yatsenyuk, declared that non-humans lived in Donbas. And the current President, Mr. Zelenskyy, has made similar statements. In an interview last September, when he was asked what he thought of the people who live in Donbas, he said: “they are a people and, sometimes, they are a species, they are beings”. That seems to be a common refrain of the Ukrainian authorities. Having declared all dissenters to be terrorists, the Kyiv regime eight years ago launched, and now continues to conduct, a military operation against the peaceful civilian population. Incidentally, for many years now, in Ukraine there has been a full mobilization of all adults, including women, in order to recruit them into the ranks of nationalist battalions and the armed forces.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“The perpetrators of the monstrous tragedy in Odesa on 2 May 2014, when dozens of people were burned alive and killed in the local Trade Unions Building, have not been found or punished. The political murders of Oles Buzina, Pavel Sheremet and other public figures and journalists are also on the same list. Nevertheless, there is an attempt today to impose on us a completely different narrative about Russian aggression as the root cause of all our troubles. That ignores the fact that for over eight years the Ukrainian army and nationalist fighters have been killing residents of Donbas with impunity simply because they refused to recognize the result of the coup in Kyiv. They decided to uphold their rights, which were guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine, including the right to freely use Russian, their mother tongue.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“Mr. Lavrov (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): As I understand it, today’s meeting was motivated by the intention of several delegations to discuss the topic of impunity in Ukraine. I think that is very timely because it is precisely impunity that reflects what has been going on in that country since 2014. National radical forces, outspoken Russophobes and neo-Nazis came to power then as a result of an armed coup, with the direct support of Western countries. And right after that, they embarked on a path of lawlessness and total disregard for basic human rights and freedoms — the right to life, the freedom of speech, access to information, the freedom of the media and expression, the freedom of conscience and the right to use one’s mother tongue. To date, the crimes on the Maidan in February 2014 remain unpunished.”
2022-09-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9135 (2022) · source
“As I already mentioned, the parties to the Panmunjom and Pyongyang Declarations, for example, affirmed their interest in implementing joint economic projects. If we all welcome those agreements, we should think about having the 1718 Committee come up with special conditions for considering applications for exemptions from the sanctions regime for the purpose of implementing inter-Korean cooperative projects agreed on by Pyongyang and Seoul. Russia is ready to work as closely as possible with all interested countries with the aim of ensuring peace, stability and a comprehensive settlement of the problems of the Korean peninsula on a basis of equal, non-discriminatory negotiations with the participation of all interested parties.”
2018-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8363 (2018) · source
“We also consider it the right moment for the Security Council to send a clear message in support of the positive trends in the situation regarding the Korean the peninsula. That could be done, for example, by adopting a corresponding resolution, a draft of which we would like to prepare and submit to the Council for discussion. We also consider it important to regularly assess the advisability of reviewing some of the restrictions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as Pyongyang makes progress towards renouncing its nuclear weapons. It would be possible to come up with at least some small steps, for instance. Security Council resolutions allow for a review of limitations in the case of political advances.”
2018-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8363 (2018) · source
“It is extremely difficult to conduct business even when the Security Council sanctions regime does not forbid it, thanks to the existence of these illegal practices and entrepreneurs' fear of ending up on a banned list. Any attempts to bless such restrictions by invoking the authority of the Council or its Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006), or to question one or another country's sticking to the strict implementation of the Council resolutions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, are unacceptable. We support both the Council and its 1718 Committee in making every possible effort to find political and diplomatic solutions to the issues on the Korean peninsula and to help to establish a multilateral security mechanism in North-East Asia.”
2018-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8363 (2018) · source
“The so-called autonomous, or secondary sanctions imposed by the United States and some of its allies on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and other States, and going around and over Security Council sanctions, are even worse. Such unilateral restrictions not only undermine the sovereignty and legitimate interests of Member States and contradict the norms and rules of international trade, they also undermine the integrity of the Security Council's own agreed restrictions. We once again urge the countries imposing them to stop this practice. We are increasingly seeing them become a tool for unfair competition and for scaring business operators away from third countries. The example of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in that regard is very instructive.”
2018-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8363 (2018) · source
“The further expansion of sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has already gone beyond measures to block the channels for financing Pyongyang's banned nuclear- missile programmes and is threatening North Korean citizens with social, economic and humanitarian hardships that are simply unacceptable. Incidentally, it is relevant to remember here that besides a sanctions component, all Security Council resolutions in this area include provisions for measures for achieving a political and diplomatic settlement of the situation on the Korean peninsula, and ignoring them is tantamount to non-compliance with the Council's consensus agreements on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.”
2018-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8363 (2018) · source
“Only then will it be possible to talk about an effective solution to the issues that have accumulated in the region, including the nuclear issue, on a basis of mutually acceptable agreements. Achieving that with sanctions and pressure would be difficult if not impossible. The extreme lengths that the Council's sanctions instruments have gone to already mean that Member States and international organizations are often unable to support in a normal regime even humanitarian, sports and diplomatic links - which have nothing to do with the development of nuclear missile programmes - to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.”
2018-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8363 (2018) · source
“The steps taken by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's towards gradual disarmament should be accompanied by reductions in sanctions. Actions deserve reactions. That is essential if we are to avoid situations like the one, for example, that arose with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action when our American colleagues invented a pretext for withdrawing unilaterally from the Iranian nuclear deal, thereby violating their obligations under Security Council resolutions. The institutions and mechanisms of the United Nations and its Security Council should work to support the settlement process and the inter-Korean dialogue, not to become obstacles to them.”
2018-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8363 (2018) · source
“In view of the willingness that Pyongyang has shown to cooperate and the positive progress it has made in stabilizing the situation in the region, the policy of Western partners aimed at further sanctions crackdowns on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea seems increasingly ill-timed. Considering that Pyongyang has taken a number of important steps towards denuclearization, it would seem logical to support those efforts and propose something in return in order to maintain this positive momentum. In that connection, I would like to hear some of our colleagues in the Council explain their reasons for obstinately rejecting any possibility of a positive signal from the Security Council regarding Pyongyang's steps towards the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. We would like to point out that any negotiation is a two-way street.”
2018-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8363 (2018) · source
“The agreement reached in Pyongyang between the two Koreas on the restoration of rail and road links is an important step in that direction. We call on Council members to support Pyongyang and Seoul's initiatives, which fully respond to the spirit of our resolutions. Any possibility that the sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea can become an instrument of collective punishment is absolutely unacceptable. Any lack of trust between Washington and Pyongyang is an obstacle to developing joint measures thatboth sides could undertake simultaneously and gradually with a View to advancing the overall settlement process. We suggest working together to consider a system of international security guarantees, which would be a definitive prerequisite for resolving the task of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.”
2018-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8363 (2018) · source
“It states the Korean parties' intention to broaden the scope of their cooperation, as well as Pyongyang's obligations to dismantle the Tonchan-Ni missile range and close its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, which gives us hope that the situation in this part of the world can be stabilized. Russia actively supports a rapprochement between South and North Korea and a settlement of the problems on the Korean peninsula in general. For a long time now we have been urging our partners to work on this, including within the framework of implementing the road map established by Russia and China last summer, which isnow de facto being implemented. We believe that building trust is the key to finding a political and diplomatic path to resolving the issues on the Korean peninsula.”
2018-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8363 (2018) · source
“Mr. Lavrov (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): In the past few months, considerable progress has been achieved in resolving the problems on the Korean peninsula. The region has seen a significant reduction in tensions as a result of the moratorium declared by Pyongyang in April on missile launches and nuclear tests, the closure of the nuclear-weapon-test site in Punggye-ri and the decision by the United States and the Republic of Korea to postpone their summer military manoeuvres indefinitely. We would like to point to the successful implementation of the inter-Korean agreements detailed in the Panmunjom Declaration of 27 April and the September visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea by President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea, during which the Pyongyang Declaration was signed.”
2018-09-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8363 (2018) · source
“Based on the solid foundation of the Charter of the United Nations, Russia is always open to honest cooperation with the five major nuclear- weapon States and all other countries in the interests of strengthening global strategic stability. We hope that today's meeting of the Security Council - the key organ for the maintenance of international peace and security - will enable us to take a step in that direction. In that regard, we believe that President Trump's initiative to convene this meeting is very timely.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“A dialogue between Russia and the United States, as the two largest nuclear Powers, is especially important for strengthening the non-proliferation regime for weapons of mass destruction. Our two States were present at the creation of the common frameworks for multilateral cooperation in preventing such weapons from falling into the hands of non-State actors and combating acts of nuclear terrorism. Russia still considers such cooperation to be fundamentally important, not just for Moscow and Washington but for the entire international community. Let us not sacrifice it for the sake of instant decisions and short- term calculations.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“Incidentally, I would like to remind the Council that we more than once proposed to agree on a mechanism for verifying the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention. However, that was firmly blocked and ultimately completely buried by the United States. Washington's desire to preserve a free hand has also been apparent when the Convention's regime has encountered additional issues with regard to the spread of military medical and biological activity, including in the post-Soviet space. We urge everyone to reject the militarization of health care. Russia has consistently advocated for strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention, and we are implementing several initiatives to that end, including the establishment of mobile anti-epidemic teams for rapid responses to biological emergencies.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“This raises the possibility that if they do not want to cooperate, they have something to hide. We once again call on London to launch a constructive dialogue in order to establish the truth. The way events have been developing gives reason to believe that today no possibility can be excluded, including that of provocations involving the use of biological weapons. Given the attempts Ihave mentioned to manipulate the status of the Chemical Weapons Convention, I want to caution against the temptation to do the same with the Biological Weapons Convention. I would like to point out that the Convention stipulates that the right to initiate and conduct investigations belongs to the Security Council alone. There is no provision for surrogates, nor can there be.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“Meanwhile, the situation is deteriorating in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, where our Western colleagues are trying to impose so- called attributive functions on its Technical Secretariat, in a gross violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention that infringes on the prerogatives of the Security Council. At the same time, entirely unsubstantiated rhetoric, in the "highly likely" vein, is increasing in connection with the Salisbury affair. However, Britain has been stubbornly rejecting our repeated proposals for a joint investigation, despite the fact that this is a requirement according to its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the 1965 bilateral Consular Convention and the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“Russia has repeatedly proposed developing a comprehensive strategy for combating chemical terrorism. In 2017 Russian and China introduced a draft resolution on the subject to the Security Council that was not considered, through no fault of ours. From a broader perspective, as long ago as March 2016, at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, we submitted a draft convention at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on combating acts of chemical and biological terrorism. Sadly, work on it has been artificially blocked, and no doubt we all know by which countries. Nevertheless, our proposals still stand.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“We should warn them against carrying out any new attacks on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic under any more staged pretexts, which would constitute a gross violation of the Charter of the United Nations and undermine the efforts to promote a political settlement in that long-suffering country. The Government of Syria has destroyed its arsenal of chemical weapons in accordance with the Russian-American agreement of 2013, enshrined in Security Council resolution 2118 (2013) and in the resolutions of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. But there are terrorist groups that do possess chemical warfare materials. They have learned how to synthesize them and have built their own laboratories for that. Intelligence services, including those of the United States, have been issuing warnings about this for a long time.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“There continue to be other serious obstacles to nuclear non-proliferation - essentially, the decision of the United States to put off for an unspecified period, perhaps forever, its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and the lack of progress in implementing the decision of the States parties to the NPT on the establishment of a zone in the Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction. The situation regarding chemical-weapon disarmament is also worrying, primarily in connection with the actions of a number of Western States, which have continued again and again to accuse the Syrian authorities of the use of banned chemical agents.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“Russia is a firm believer in the importance of preserving the JCPOA, and we are actively working on that at the moment with Iran, China and the European Union. Without it, we could be facing increasing tensions throughout the Middle East, fraught with risks to regional stability and the non-proliferation regime. The collapse of the JCPOA would also be extremely counterproductive for the ongoing efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, which we welcome and support.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“The desire of a number of countries to ban nuclear weapons in isolation from the fundamental principles of the NPT has no hope of success and serves only to create ambiguity with regard to future approaches to the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Speaking of the NPT, I should not omit to mention resolution 2231 (2015), in which the Council endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to settle the issue of the Iranian nuclear programme. The unilateral withdrawal of the United States from this agreement represents a serious threat to the non-proliferation regime, particularly since, as many speakers before me have emphasized, Tehran has been meticulously abiding by its obligations under the JCPOA, as the International Atomic Energy Agency has regularly confirmed.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“The Council's resolutions, providing for sanctions for the transfer of any type of arms to terrorists, are especially important. Such transfers do happen and must be thoroughly investigated. Just as it was 50 years ago, when the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) opened for signature, my country remains committed to the goal of ridding the world of the nuclear threat. At the same time, there can be no question that we have to consider every factor influencing strategic stability, and that every country with military and nuclear potential should take part in the negotiation process.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“Mr. Lavrov (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): In the modern world, the ability to effectively combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is particularly crucial to the maintenance of global and regional stability and to reliably ensuring the security of every State, without exception. Constructive cooperation in this area is an important element of our efforts to establish a positive international agenda. I think we all agree that the Security Council resolutions that set out concrete measures for dealing with those who violate non-proliferation regimes should be strictly observed. The cornerstone remains the founding resolution 1540 (2004), which requires Member States to commit to taking concrete measures to prevent weapons of mass destruction and their components from falling into the hands of non-State actors.”
2018-09-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8362 (2018) · source
“The large-scale plans aimed ultimately at improving the well-being of the peoples of Central Asia and Afghanistan can become a reality only when there is lasting peace and stability throughout the Asian continent. Russia has consistently worked to bring together efforts in the interests of establishing an architecture of equal and indivisible security that reflects contemporary realities in the Asia-Pacific region. The prospects for stability, peace and prosperity for States in the region are closely linked to the ongoing development of a fairer, more democratic and polycentric world order, based on international law and respect for the cultural and civilizational diversity of the peoples of the world.”
2018-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8162 (2018) · source
“External actors should do everything they can to facilitate this without trying to drag the countries in the region into a zero-sum game, the notion of which appeared in the concept of a so-called greater Central Asia, which it seemed might happily have been forgotten but which has recently reared its head again. Central Asian countries should not be presented with a false choice between South and North. The region needs a constructive environment and partnership with all stakeholders, and certainly all its countries must respect all their obligations within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Eurasian Economic Community.”
2018-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8162 (2018) · source
“The particular geographical location of Central Asian countries determines the importance of improving the effectiveness of making use of various forms of transportation for providing reliable trade and economic links with States in the Asia-Pacific region, including South Asia and Europe. Russia stands ready to contribute to that process through the development of East-West and North-South international corridors. In order to achieve that, we are working to establish a single transit system through the Eurasian Economic Union and its Chinese counterpart, the Belt and Road Initiative. That approach will enable the Central Asian region to strengthen its role in the continental transportation system. Eurasia today needs mutually beneficial cooperation based on a balance of interests.”
2018-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8162 (2018) · source
“During the past decade the aggregate volume of our assistance to Central Asian countries exceeded $6 billion, both bilaterally and through international organizations, including within the framework of the implementation of the Goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We believe that the region's issues regarding the energy supplies and access to water resources should be addressed through constructive dialogue and a mutual consideration of interests in the areas of hydropower and agriculture in order to benefit all the peoples of the region.”
2018-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8162 (2018) · source
“Russia is open to multilateral cooperation in implementing major economic and infrastructure-based projects, including the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan- India gas pipeline project and the Central Asia-South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade project. At the heart of our alliance and strategic partnership with the Central Asian States is shared history, a high degree of mutual trust and unified approaches to major current issues. Our trade and economic ties provide a sound foundation. Russian investments in the region total $20 billion, with more than 7,500 Russian companies and joint ventures with Russian capital working productively in the area.”
2018-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8162 (2018) · source
“We continue to assist Kabul in training national civilian and law-enforcement personnel to strengthen the military capabilities of the Afghan armed forces. We consistently advocate for starting direct talks as soon as possible between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban movement, based on criteria approved by the Security Council, in the interests of ending their fratricidal war. As security issues are addressed, one of the major factors in stabilizing Afghanistan must be sustained socioeconomic development. Both the Eurasian Economic Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States can contribute to the general efforts by opening broad and promising markets in Afghanistan.”
2018-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8162 (2018) · source
“The experience of the past 20 years is vivid testament to the futility of attempts to use force to solve the problems plaguing Afghanistan. What is on the agenda is adopting practical measures to launch a process of national reconciliation on a basis of the relevant Security Council resolutions. Guided by those views, we have launched a dialogue in the Moscow format in conjunction with our partners and like-minded stakeholders, reviving the work of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization-Afghanistan Contact Group. We are building a partnership between Afghanistan and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. We welcome the initiative of Uzbekistan to convene a ministerial meeting this spring on a settlement of the Afghan settlement.”
2018-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8162 (2018) · source
“It will be essential to take urgent measures to curb this threat, which fuels international terrorism, undermines the stability of States and the health of young people and triggers crime and corruption. The development of a comprehensive strategy to combat drug trafficking was the focus of an international conference of parliamentarians against drugs organized by the Russian State Duma in Moscow in December. We welcomed the participation in the conference of representatives from the United Nations, along with a host of Russian and international non-governmental organizations. The situation in Afghanistan requires a comprehensive approach on the part of the States of the region and the international community as a whole.”
2018-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8162 (2018) · source
“Northern Afghanistan is becoming a base of support for international terrorism, led by the Afghan wing of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, which is establishing a springboard for realizing its destructive ambitions in the region in the spirit of the caliphate's notorious ideology. With the flagrant collusion and sometimes direct support ofboth external and local sponsors, thousands of fighters of various nationalities are entering the region under the banner of ISIL, including jihadists who escaped defeat in Syria. They openly proclaim that their goal is overturning the legitimate Governments of Central Asian States and spreading their influence throughout Eurasia. In the past year we saw unprecedented growth in Afghan narcotics production, as my Polish colleague just mentioned.”
2018-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8162 (2018) · source
“Mr. Lavrov (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): At the outset, I would like to highlight Kazakhstan's consistent and responsible approach to advancing issues that are priorities for Central Asia and its focus on solving specific problems facing the region. We welcome the initiative of our friends from Kazakhstan in convening today's debate on an issue that is an urgent one for many countries and takes on particular significance against the backdrop of the growing terrorist and narcotic threats emanating from Afghanistan, which are having a destabilizing effect on Central Asia and spilling over its borders.”
2018-01-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8162 (2018) · source
“Who in essence vetoed our draft resolution, and who was the last to do it? It is those very countries - the United States and the United Kingdom - that, without blinking an eye, are today accusing us of doing this. Who closed the JIM? I will say once again what was already repeatedly said in consultations on the Syrian chemical-weapons dossier: Stop your games at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons - we know the aim of those games - and demonstrate your readiness to establish a genuinely independent and professional mechanism, if you want honest cooperation, and not a smokescreen for political manipulation". The needed trust would then emerge. There should be no illusions about this. We need a new mechanism that is approved by the Security Council.”
2018-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8160 (2018) · source
“Perhaps their statements were written in advance, and they did not have sufficient time to revise their drafts after they had heard our statement. But, no, this is being done deliberately. We are deliberately not being heard, and our positions are being distorted. They erroneously claim that we are responsible for closing the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) because we vetoed the draft resolution on its extension. However, they shamefully forget to mention that we proposed a draft resolution that would have extended the JIM. and improve its effectiveness, efficiency, professionalism and impartiality, which they did not allowed to be adopted. We proposed that draft resolution because the JIM. completely discredited itself with a mendacious report that withstood no criticism. I would ask a couple of rhetorical questions.”
2018-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8160 (2018) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): Like other members of the Security Council, I too am pleased to see the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan presiding over today's meeting, which is dedicated to strengthening confidence-building measures. Unfortunately, around the world and in the Security Council in particular, there is indeed insufficient confidence and insufficient trust, and that is evident. What kind oftrust or confidence can there be if some countries - and given that Russia was mentioned by name, I will take the liberty to mention them by name: the United States and the United Kingdom - continue to manipulate the Security Council and the social sentiment of the international community?”
2018-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8160 (2018) · source
“We presented the draft convention at the Conference on Disarmament, in Geneva, and we call for negotiations for its approval to begin as soon as possible. The current state of affairs in non-proliferation and disarmament urgently requires us to work together to find ways of surmounting these growing contradictions, while taking a careful approach to the cooperative measures that have been proven to be effective and strengthening their international legal foundations by taking the interests of all States into account. We hope that today's Security Council meeting and the initiative put forward by the President of Kazakhstan will help us to resolve these issues.”
2018-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8160 (2018) · source
“Last year, during our chairmanship of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation, we organized a special meeting on the issue. We also welcomed the consensus three months ago approving a decision by the OPCW Executive Council aimed at preventing threats of non-State actors using chemical weapons, which in our View is a step in the right direction. In the interests of improving the effectiveness of multilateral cooperation in preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the threat of such weapons falling into the hands of terrorist groups and other non-State actors, Russia has proposed formulating a new, legally binding instrument, in the form of an international convention to combat acts of chemical and biological terrorism.”
2018-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8160 (2018) · source
“The resolution's relevance was reaffirmed by the Security Council following the 2016 comprehensive review of its implementation. The Council is required to respond severely to any breach of the resolution, whether in Syria, Iraq or elsewhere, especially in cases where non-State actors receive assistance in getting access to weapons of mass destruction. Russia supports efforts to establish and strengthen the national, regional and subregional capacities needed for dealing with these challenges. Under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs, we recently held a special seminar in Kaliningrad on the practical aspects of the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004).”
2018-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8160 (2018) · source
“We have recently witnessed persistent attempts to manipulate the activity of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the OPCW-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, which has concluded its work. This is deplorable, and we reiterate our proposal for creating a new mechanism for investigating incidents involving the use of chemical weapons in Syria on the basis of principles that fully reflect the standards of the Chemical Weapons Convention. We also call on all States to comply with their obligations under resolution 1540 (2004), adopted in 2004, which directs all countries to take effective measures to prevent weapons of mass destruction and all other related materials from falling into the hands of non-State actors, including terrorists, of course.”
2018-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8160 (2018) · source
“For many years - the past three at least - we have repeatedly proposed adopting a Security Council resolution, or at least a presidential statement, condemning specific instances of chemical terrorism in Syria and Iraq. Unfortunately, all of our proposals have consistently met with obstinate resistance from some of our Western colleagues, who prefer to turn a blind eye to the facts of the use, and even manufacture, of chemical weapons by terrorists, and to level unsubstantiated accusations at Damascus. We consider it unacceptable to exploit efforts to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in order to achieve narrow geopolitical aims, as occurred 15 years ago with the intervention in Iraq on an utterly trumped-up pretext.”
2018-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8160 (2018) · source
“We are gravely concerned about the growing threat of chemical terrorism in the Middle East, in particular in Iraq and Syria. Militants are not only using toxic chemicals but also have their own technological and manufacturing capacities for synthesizing full-fledged military toxic substances and have established far- reaching channels for access to their precursors. We should never ignore the very real threat of chemical terrorism spreading beyond the Middle East, particularly when we consider the significant numbers of foreigners who are fighting alongside the extremists. Terrorists who have come to Syria and Iraq from abroad have already had the opportunity to acquire practical experience and skills in manufacturing and using chemical weapons.”
2018-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8160 (2018) · source
“We cannot repudiate this genuine achievement of multilateral diplomacy - the result of the efforts not only of the participants in the agreement itself but also of other stakeholders that supported the initiative, including Kazakhstan - for the benefit of certain countries' political agendas. It is obvious that if the JCPOA were to fail, and especially if one of the members of the P5+1 was responsible, it would send an alarming message about our entire international security architecture, including the prospects for resolving the nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula. We would like to reaffirm the relevance of Russia and China's proposals for a road map aimed at reaching an exclusively peaceful settlement of this issue.”
2018-01-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8160 (2018) · source