YouSaid · the spoken record

Nebenzia

lines on the record: 5,044
first: 2017-08-02
most recent: 2023-12-30
sittings or episodes: 461
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

“There is nothing similar in Russian social media about Ukrainian civilians. Council members cannot imagine how disgusted people in Russia — and those in Ukraine who do not support the Kyiv regime — are when they hear the cynical and false claims of Council members. They should be ashamed.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“I would like to ask, does it also have the right to intentionally and indiscriminately kill civilians? The Permanent Representative of France constantly says that Ukraine is defending itself in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter. What about bombing civilian — not military — infrastructure? Is that also based on Article 51 of the Charter? Russia does not target peaceful Ukrainian civilians, no matter how many times those here repeat that — not everyone here, of course, but some, and everyone knows who they are. We are only targeting military infrastructure. Neither do we intentionally fire weapons at, or target, civilians. Look at statements by Ukrainian neo-Nazis on social media — how much glee and gloating they express at the killing of peaceful civilians in Belgorod.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): I just wanted to make a few comments. Many Council members are fond of saying, “do not let Russia mislead or distract us”. That is a notion familiar to us when the subject is an inconvenient one for the Council members who say such things. We also constantly hear that it is not Ukraine that started this war. Well, if in 2013 there had not been an anti-government coup in Ukraine that was supported and blessed by the West, if the Government that took power had not begun a war in the Donbas against its own citizens in 2014, and if the Minsk package of agreements approved by a Security Council resolution had been implemented, none of what happened in 2022 would have occurred. The representative of Malta mentioned today that Ukraine has the right to defend its citizens.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“In conclusion, let me recall a very accurate metaphor that Polish President Duda made during high- level week. He compared Ukraine to a drowning man who could pull down to the bottom whomever he had a grip on. Today we see Zelenskyy, Podolyak, Yermak and other neo-Nazi rabble trying to drag down not only the people of Ukraine, but also those who supply them with military equipment and ammunition, ostensibly for defence against Russia. It is clear that little hope can be pinned on the United States and Great Britain. For them supporting the Kyiv regime is a profitable enterprise, not only a geopolitical one but also a commercial one. But I very much want to believe that today’s cynical use of Czech shells against civilians may yet sober up all the rest.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“They have a different history and different heroes now, those whom the Nuremberg Tribunal — which the representative of the Kyiv gang’s representative refers to so abundantly — condemned as war criminals, collaborators and admirers of Adolf Hitler. The Führer of Germany as we know, said that conscience was a chimera. And the methods used by the current Kyiv strategists are no different from those used by Banderites and other folks from the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, who used to massacre “Moskals”, Jews, Poles and Ukrainians themselves. The only difference is that now they are equipped with Western-made long- range weapon systems that allow them to reach city centres. And they aim at peaceful people rather than military targets.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“The Kyiv regime boasts of being an original Member of the United Nations, shamefully omitting the fact that that was possible only thanks to Comrade Stalin, who insisted on it in view of the enormous contribution to the victory made by Belarus and Ukraine and the sacrifices they made during the Second World War. The same Comrade Stalin, whom Ukrainian nationalists and Nazis hate fiercely, acquired for the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Western Ukrainian lands that by that time had not been part of that country for centuries. All of that, of course, has been forgotten and trampled on by the current Kyiv authorities.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“I think that must be clear to everyone. To those here who called for negotiations yesterday, an adviser to the head of Ukrainian President’s office, Mr. Podolyak, responded earlier today. Here is his quote: “There will be no negotiations, in the classical sense of the word. There will be ultimatums to the Russian Federation at the highest level, and Russia will accept.” Those are the associations that ringleaders of the Kyiv regime have with the word “negotiations”. Like Hitler in 1943 and 1944, they are sure of their invincibility and believe that the West will eventually save their skins. Yesterday in this Chamber, a representative of the Kyiv clique, sitting behind the nameplate of the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, tried to lecture us and teach us about conscience — what is having a conscience and what is not.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“The Nazis are about to be driven out of Avdiivka. And Russian troops are pushing the Ukrainian militants along the entire line of resistance. At this point, the nationalists are no longer up to their usual shelling. Now they need to save their lives by piling the corpses of untrained recruits on fighting positions. But in the Kharkiv region, especially in close proximity to the Russian border, the situation is different — so far. We will of course correct it. As we have already stated, one of the tasks of our special operation, within the greater goal of demilitarizing Ukraine, is to eliminate threats coming from the territories bordering on Russian regions, including those that became part of Russia after the start of the military operation. The more such threats are created, the tougher we will retaliate.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“We are surprised by the Secretary-General’s silence on this matter. Instead, on the part of the United Nations, we have heard only inarticulate comments from the Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary- General, which just dropped an impersonal remark that such attacks should be condemned. Silence in response to the unbridled barbarism of Ukrainian Nazis and their puppeteer accomplices from “civilized democracies” will be akin to complicity in their bloody acts. It was not by chance that the Nazi Kyiv regime chose Belgorod for a target of today’s terrorist attack. As we all know, in recent weeks Ukrainian Nazis have lost many well-rooted positions in the suburbs of Donetsk, from where they have been shelling the peaceful neighbourhoods of that city for nine years. The town of Marinka has been liberated.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“The shelling of populated areas in the Donbas, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions, Crimea and other Russian regions and the ruthless and indiscriminate killing of civilians attest to the agony of Zelenskyy’s neo-Nazi regime — mired in terrorism, lawlessness, corruption and cynicism — which, in its impotent anger, seeks to kill as many Russian people as possible to please its Western masters. All organizers and perpetrators of this and other crimes of the Kyiv junta will inevitably be punished. We call on all responsible Governments and relevant international mechanisms to condemn in the strongest possible terms this brutal terrorist attack, which used cluster munitions that are banned in most Western States, and to publicly distance themselves from the Kyiv regime and its Western sponsors who commit such crimes.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“We are very familiar with the narrative that we are going to hear today: “none of this would have happened if you had not started the special military operation in February 2022”. That is a lie. We launched a special military operation to stop what the Kyiv regime was doing in Donbas — bombarding its cities and towns with impunity for eight years, which the Council did not want to notice. We can only achieve that by defeating this terrorist regime, which openly brags about using terrorist methods against both its own and Russian citizens.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“I would like to emphasize once again: what we saw was not a strike against military facilities with possible consequences for the civilian population, but a deliberate act of terrorism directed against civilians. As of now, this premeditated and carefully prepared shelling of the central part of the city has killed 18 people, including three children. One hundred and eight people have been wounded, with five children and 12 adults in critical condition. We know that British and American advisers, who regularly incite the authorities of present-day Ukraine to commit bloody crimes, were directly involved in the organization of this terrorist attack. Countries of the European Union, which stubbornly and irresponsibly continue to pump arms into the Ukrainian ruling clique, also bear responsibility.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“One of the targets of Ukrainian missiles was the Dynamo sports complex in Belgorod, where youth gymnastics classes were being held at that moment. Another was a skating rink in Belgorod city centre, where parents were spending time with their children. Belgorod State Technological University also came under attack by Ukrainian terrorists. In order to increase the number of victims of the terrorist attack, cluster munitions were used. Two Olkha missiles — in a prohibited cluster configuration — were used, as well as Czech-made Vampire projectiles. This was therefore a deliberate, indiscriminate combined strike against a peaceful city.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“Cast no illusions and drop the pretence. Brussels, along with Washington and London, as well as the majority of EU countries, are complicit in the crimes committed by the Kyiv clique. Today members of the Security Council have a chance to do their duty and give an objective assessment of the terrorist attack of the Kyiv regime against the peaceful Russian city of Belgorod, which took place a few hours ago. The city centre and residential neighbourhoods of Belgorod were shelled with cluster munitions from multiple rocket launchers from the border town of Volchansk, in the Kharkiv region. Here are links to videos recorded by residents of Belgorod the moment the missile arrived. Let me stress that this was not some shards. The footage clearly showed a missile approaching. Here you can see the effect of this attack.”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“We tried to invite the Czech Permanent Representative to address us today, but he cowardly declined to participate. Of course, it is one thing to stand in line to participate in meetings convened by the Kyiv regime and its sponsors to promote anti-Russian propaganda, but it is quite another to take responsibility for the actions of one’s own Government. We want the citizens of Czechia, as well as other Western countries, the vast majority of which are not hostile to Russia, to understand where their money is going and what crimes their Governments are involved in. Where is the representative of Poland, who yesterday told us about the missile that flew into its territory, which 500 soldiers of the territorial defence troops of the Lublin province were looking for and could not find? Where is the representative of the European Union?”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): It was just yesterday (see S/PV.9523) that we met in this Chamber, at the insistence of representatives of the Kyiv regime and their sponsors, who tried to pass off the consequences of the unprofessional work of Ukrainian air defence forces as deliberate strikes by Russian aerospace forces against residential areas in Ukrainian cities. We used concrete examples to expose the falsity of those claims, and members had nothing to object to our arguments. Let me ask where those people are today. Where are the representatives of European Union (EU) member states, who come in packs and bunches to request to take the floor at meetings on Ukraine in order to read out their tired propaganda on camera? Where is the representative of Czechia, whose missiles killed civilians in Belgorod?”
2023-12-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9524 (2023) · source
“And now our task is to prevent Zelenskyy from annihilating his own people once and for all. We hope that, at some point, his Western sponsors will also realize that. The sooner that happens, the better for Ukraine.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“After that, the head of the Kyiv junta for some reason signed a decree expressly forbidding him to conduct negotiations with the Russian leadership. That decree is still in effect. But those who reproach us for allegedly not willing to negotiate try not to mention that. Time is therefore quickly running out for the Kyiv regime. Its future really is under serious threat. Meanwhile, Ukrainian civilians and the Ukrainian language and culture are not exposed to any threats, no matter how hard the West tries to prove the opposite. Our special military operation is not against them, but against the criminal Kyiv regime, which did not want to end the war on its own population in the Donbas. Zelenskyy and his clique made their criminal choice — and they made it for all Ukrainian people.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“The threats that come from the territory of Ukraine and have been posed by NATO countries will certainly be eliminated, either within the framework of the special military operation or by using political and diplomatic instruments. We never renounced the latter. We gave the Ukrainian leadership a good chance to preserve territorial integrity — of course without the Crimea, which, as far back as 2014, chose to become part of Russia — and save the lives of hundreds of thousands Ukrainian citizens. That was back in March-April 2022. Recently, a member of Ukraine’s negotiating team, Chalyi, admitted that it was an excellent option for Ukraine. But the bosses in London and Washington did not let Kyiv take that chance, which has become a confirmed fact by now.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“There is only one conclusion from all that, and it is a disappointing one for our enemies — the Kyiv regime’s military plans have failed completely. So our enemies and their Ukrainian proxies can expect the very worst news in the near future. It does not matter whether new military and financial aid packages for Zelenskyy and his gang are going to be approved in Washington or Brussels or not. That will only delay the demise of his regime, but will not prevent it. It is clear that betting on solving the Ukrainian crisis on the battlefield was a mistake and a failure, and a military victory over Russia is an absolutely unattainable goal.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“The Zelensky regime has long since lost everything of its own. In fact, Ukraine today is nothing but a private military company in the hands of Western countries, whose task is to inflict maximum damage on Russia. That is what the Western sponsors of the Kyiv regime are guided by, allocating money and supplying arms, and they could not care less bout the lives of ordinary Ukrainians. The reality of today is that Ukraine does not, and will not, have the resources to change the tide or even to preserve the situation on the contact line. It is not so much about the inefficient use by the Maidan regime of the weapons supplied to it. For example, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kuleba, directly linked the failure of the counteroffensive to “the pathetic, deplorable state of the defence industry and warehouses in NATO countries”.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“Such trends are clearly demonstrated by the panic activity of those residents of the country who have managed to travel abroad. They are now storming Ukrainian consulates abroad in hopes of renewing their expired documents and transferring their property to their wives. As soon as that law comes into force, they will be deprived of almost all rights in their country. That is the reality in which Ukrainians have to live today, but of course we have not heard any assessments of such lawlessness from any of our Western colleagues. The reality is that Ukraine is surviving exclusively thanks to colossal financial injections from Washington, London and Brussels. Ukrainian civil servants, including diplomats, receive their salaries from foreign countries. Military equipment and uniforms of the Ukrainian armed forces are also coming from abroad.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“That list is not exhaustive, for the crackdown essentially continues. It is not without reason that some commentators are comparing it with serfdom. Against that backdrop, even pro-Western Ukrainians have seen their optimism diminish considerably. Society has long since not harboured any illusions. People understand perfectly well that the country has betrayed them, or rather, the authorities of the country have betrayed them — that their husbands, brothers and sons are being sacrificed to serve the geopolitical goals of the West to contain Russia and so the corrupt regime can hold on to its cushy spot. Recent studies confirm this: 75 per cent of Ukrainians are willing to give up their citizenship in order to avoid conscription.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“It has even come to the point that conscription notices are being handed to priests, who are threatened with reprisals against their relatives. Then, without any training, they are thrown onto the front line. One Ukrainian commander recently complained that these fighters are not even assigned call signs because they die too soon. Such senseless slaughter is about to befall not only men but also women. At a recent press conference, Zelenskyy raised the stakes. He wants to send 500,000 people to certain death. To that end, he has prepared a draft law on new conscription rules. It involves bringing the conscription age down to 25 years, reducing the list of persons who are not covered by conscription, a voluntary- mandatory census of men, a ban on leaving the country and any property transactions and freezing bank accounts.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“It shows that all of the walls of the building are covered with traces left by submunitions of air defence missiles that had hit the building. Dozens, if not hundreds, of such photos and videos have been posted on social media today. They have been posted by Ukrainians who are outraged, not only at the yet further impact of Ukrainian air defence systems, but also at the incessant lies of the Zelenskyy regime, who have brought their country to an almost fatal point. Ukrainians are also angry because they are being forced to fight for this corrupt, paid-for and anti-national Government, contrary to the assurances of the leader of the Kyiv junta. Men of conscription age are being approached in the streets, on public transportation. Intimidation and violence are being used against them.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“An attack missile does not fly at such speed and along such a trajectory. Obviously, this is the result of Ukrainian air defence operations. By way of comparison, here is a link to another video showing an Israeli missile hitting an apartment building in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip today. It shows not only the moment the missile hit, but also the fact that only ruins remain of the multistorey building. One can only imagine the number of victims of this barbaric targeted strike, which is one of dozens that hit Gaza every day, but that is certainly no reason for our Western colleagues to call an urgent meeting of the Security Council. Here is a link to another photo from Ukrainian social media, taken after a hit on a high- rise building in Lviv.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“If Ukraine had not violated international humanitarian law, there would have been no casualties despite the truly massive strike launched by the aerospace forces of Russia yesterday and today on military targets across Ukraine: targets of the military- industrial complex; military airfield infrastructure; arsenals; storage sites for artillery shells, unmanned boats, arms and fuel for military hardware; and places where Ukrainian armed force units, nationalist formations and foreign mercenaries are deployed. That is evident not only to experts but also to any unbiased observer. Here, for example, is a link to a video of today’s impact on a residential building in Kyiv, which shows a burning object falling slowly on the building. Only the upper floors of the house were damaged.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“The representative of the United Kingdom categorically stated that there would have been more victims if it had not been for the work of the Ukrainian air defence. It is hard to imagine anything more cynical. If the Ukrainian air-defence systems had not operated, then there would not have been any victims among civilians at all. Therefore, we would advise the United Kingdom to be more cautious in announcing that it will deliver an additional 100 air-defence missiles to the Kyiv regime, the use of which is leading to the deaths of civilians. The Nazi regime is prepared to use Western weapons and those same anti-air missiles to kill not just the residents of Donbas but also their own citizens in their homes and in civilian facilities.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“They are posting more and more videos online of Russian missiles and drones hitting military infrastructure targets and arms stores, causing the characteristic detonation, while Ukrainian anti-air missiles, misfiring or straying off course, hit residential buildings and civilian objects. Harm is also being caused by debris falling in residential areas solely because Ukrainian air-defence systems are located there. That was the case with the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Odesa, the destruction of which they tried to attribute to Russia. That was also the case this morning in Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk and other cities from which reports of casualties have been coming.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): We are not in the least surprised by the rushed decision of Zelenskyy’s regime and its Western backers to request today’s meeting. Many experts predicted that, in suffering defeat on the front line and rapidly losing support even in the West, the Kyiv clique would use any pretext to draw the attention of the global community to itself. Unfortunately, they have chosen an unfortunate pretext because, if there is anything to talk about today, then it is exclusively the actions of Ukrainian air-defence systems deployed in residential areas of Ukrainian towns and cities, in violation of international humanitarian law. There have long been no doubts on that front among the users of Ukrainian social networks, who are directly warning their fellow citizens about it.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9523 (2023) · source
“But it is important to work now to restore that political horizon in the Palestinian-Israeli settlement process on a universally recognized international legal basis that provides for the establishment of an independent Palestinian State within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, coexisting in peace and security with Israel. Only this balanced, unbiased approach based on international law, rather than attempts to achieve economic pacts between a number of Arab States and Israel without a just solution to the Palestinian problem, can secure a sustainable peace in the Middle East.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“How does the indiscriminate killing of Palestinian women and children in Gaza advance the task of releasing hostages? That is why we have consistently advocated for an urgent ceasefire as a prerequisite for ensuring the safety of the civilian population, unimpeded humanitarian access to all those in need, the release of detainees, including hostages, and the return of this conflict’s resolution process to the political and diplomatic track. Unfortunately, the political horizon that many are talking about is not yet in sight.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“At the same time, we cherish our historically close relations with both Palestinians and Israelis and reaffirm our unchanged approaches. We condemn the terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October, but that should not and cannot justify the ensuing collective punishment of Palestinian civilians. The Permanent Representative of Israel has just named all the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. I would like to reaffirm, as my colleague from the United Arab Emirates has already done, that we call for their immediate release in all our statements and the Council calls for that in all its products. That being said, I would like to ask a question: how many hostages have been released during Israel’s operation in Gaza? How many were killed by friendly fire and how many during the seven-day humanitarian pause? The answer is obvious.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“Without a hint of hesitation, the United States deleted any such passages when the delegations first started negotiations. The Americans allowed only extremely weakened language that would in no way prevent the continuation of Israel’s military operation in Gaza. As a result, through the fault of the United States alone, the Council, the main United Nations body for maintaining international peace and security, has been unable to fulfil its direct mandate for three months now. This unacceptable situation reveals the obvious double standards of our American colleagues with regard to the crises in Gaza and other regions of the world. The Russian Federation abstained in the voting on both resolutions in response to appeals of Palestinian and Arab representatives.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“Such an approach from Washington stems from its one-sided and selfish position aimed at derailing any Middle East settlement process and covering up any steps taken by its ally in the region, Israel. In fact, the United States is today the only State in the world, apart from Israel, that opposes the international consensus that there is no alternative to a humanitarian cessation of hostilities in Gaza. As a result, since the beginning of the crisis, the Council has adopted two toothless resolutions, 2712 (2023) and 2720 (2023), which Washington left emasculated and lacking any direct demand for the parties to cease fire — something that heads of international humanitarian agencies and Secretary- General Guterres have called for repeatedly.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“In addition, 311 health-care workers and 103 journalists have fallen victim to Israeli attacks. Against that backdrop, the confiscation of Palestinian property and the demolition of their homes continue, while West Jerusalem pursues its illegal policy towards expanding Israeli settlements, in violation of the provisions of resolution 2334 (2016). We believe that the primary task is to stop the bloodshed and create conditions for the provision of necessary humanitarian assistance to all those in need in the occupied Palestinian territories. Unfortunately, the numerous attempts that we have made, together with like-minded delegations, to have the Security Council adopt a resolution demanding an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire, at least for humanitarian purposes, have been met with firm opposition from the United States.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“In the context of violence in the West Bank, we would like to underscore, on a separate note, that Israel’s numerous security operations in that part of the occupied Palestinian territories began long before the terrorist attack of 7 October, which, I wish to stress once again, we categorically condemn. Those raids began without any linkage to the terrorist threat, which the Israelis have used as a pretext to embark upon a cleansing of Gaza that is unprecedented in the casualties and destruction it has caused, with the number of victims having already exceeded 21,000 and the number of casualties among United Nations personnel having reached 144, including staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Development Programme.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“In addition to that, violence around the enclave is provoking tensions in Iraq and Yemen, whereas Egypt and Jordan are facing unprecedented risks of a mass exodus of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. According to United Nations statistics, 304 Palestinians, including 79 children, have been killed by the Israeli military and settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 7 October this year. That amounts to 60 per cent of all Palestinians — 504 people — who have been killed in the West Bank in 2023. The year 2023 was therefore the deadliest year on record for the inhabitants of the West Bank. The number of those wounded by the Israeli military, as well as settlers, stands at almost 4,000 Palestinians, including 576 children.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): We thank the United Arab Emirates for convening this meeting. We also thank our briefers — Mr. Khaled Khiari, Mr. Marwan Muasher and Mr. Itay Epshtain — for their interesting and valuable briefings. We are following with concern the situation in the West Bank, which continues to be very tense and where, against the backdrop of Israel’s deadly cleansing of the Gaza Strip, no less brutal attacks by extremist settlers and forceful raids by Israeli security forces are taking place. That threatens not only to expand the scale of the humanitarian disaster in the occupied Palestinian territories but also to spread the crisis to the entire region. Security in Lebanon and Syria is at risk.”
2023-12-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9522 (2023) · source
“We are of the view that, whatever its resistance and however much the United States might protect its ally in the region, the Council will return to the issue and precisely and unambiguously demand a cessation of hostilities.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“However, I want to again underscore that we categorically do not agree with the content of the current paragraph 2 and believe that responsibility for all possible consequences lies with the States that gave their consent to its wording, which was forced through by the United States. We will not put our names to it. Regardless of the outcomes of today’s voting, a clear demand by the Security Council for a full- fledged ceasefire remains the imperative. Without it, as the experience of resolution 2712 (2023) has already shown, implementing Security Council resolutions in Gaza is simply impossible. On 8 December during his statement to the Council (see S/PV.9498), Secretary- General António Guterres unambiguously stated that, and the same conclusion emerges from his letter to the Council about options for monitoring resolution 2712 (2023).”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“The Security Council is essentially being asked not to get in the way as the United States twists arms in the region, not for the sake of peace, as my American colleague asserts, but for the sake of ensuring Washington’s narrow self-interests. If the document had not been supported by a number of Arab states, we would of course have vetoed it. At the same time, we note that some sponsors, including Arab States, withdrew their co-sponsorship. However, we are always of the view that the Arab world is able to take decisions and bear full responsibility for them. That is the only reason we did not block the document.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“Today at a briefing, the White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, John Kirby, said that Israeli authorities understand the need to reduce the intensity of the fighting in the Gaza Strip and that it is up to them to take the decision about the timeline of when that will take place. This is a tragic moment for the Council — not a moment of triumph for multilateral diplomacy, but rather one of gross, unprincipled blackmail and open scorn on the part of Washington for the suffering of Palestinians and the hopes of the global community to put an end to it. Today the Permanent Representative of the United States of America spoke about Washington’s direct high-level bilateral diplomacy. We have heard that argument in the past and we can see where it has led.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): Earlier when I introduced our oral amendment, I said that the vote on it would be a moment of truth, and so it was. The United States once again showed its true colours in front of the entire world, blocking an extremely weak call on the part of the Council for a cessation of hostilities in Gaza. Instead, Washington is playing an already extremely underhanded game, essentially forcing into the text license for Israel to kill Palestinian civilians in Gaza, under the pretext of creating the conditions for a cessation of hostilities.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“We still believe that we are here for the latter. In order to give the Council a chance to save face and to preserve its reputation, which has been rather shaken in recent days, we propose to revert to the wording on the cessation of violence contained in the initial draft in blue. The Russian Federation proposes the following oral amendment to paragraph 2. Instead of the wording (spoke in English) “and in this regard, calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities”,”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“By signing off on that, the Council would in effect be giving the Israeli armed forces complete freedom of movement for further clearing of the Gaza Strip, and anyone who votes in favour of the text as it is currently worded would bear responsibility for that, essentially becoming complicit in the destruction of Gaza. Moreover, the reference in the text of the draft resolution to condemning all indiscriminate attacks on civilians has been removed. What signal will that send to the international community? It is that the Security Council is giving Israel a green light for war crimes. I would like to put a question to members of the Security Council. Why do we gather here in the Chamber? Is it to rubber-stamp a decision that is convenient for Washington, or it is to fulfil our mandate to maintain international peace and security?”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“Ultimately, the wording that is being put to a vote today has been extremely neutered, including its paragraph 4, on the mechanism that would be supposed to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza and ensure its monitoring. But worse than all of that, through the efforts of the American delegation, the draft resolution has included an extremely dangerous element for the future of Gaza. Instead of the wording on an immediate cessation of violence in paragraph 2, an ambiguous phrase has appeared, calling for the parties to create conditions for a cessation of hostilities. The destruction, displacement or exile of the population of Gaza in a cynical reading — and that is precisely how it is going to be read in Israel — would also create the conditions for a cessation of hostilities.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“Instead, it has resorted to its favoured tactic of gross pressure, blackmail and twisting arms so that, at the last minute, it will be able to present the members of the Council with an ultimatum: either the Council adopts a text that is convenient for Washington, or the United States will once again block the adoption of any product. The draft resolution that is now being put to a vote (S/2023/1029) was initially, in our view, entirely toothless. But, respecting the initiative of our Arab colleagues and their needs, we were ready to support it. Under pressure from the United States, which essentially intercepted the authorship and usurped work on the text behind the scenes at various levels, twisting the hands of those in the region, with each new drafting, the text lost more and more important provisions.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“Mr. Nebenzia (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): In the past few days, the Security Council, and with it the entire world, has witnessed the latest — and I am not afraid to use these words — shameful, cynical and irresponsible conduct by the United States, which is trying to avoid responsibility for the further use of the veto, resorting to all sorts of means of sabotaging the Council’s adoption of a decision on Gaza. This entire time, the world’s media and the public have been wondering why the vote is constantly being delayed on the United Arab Emirates’ proposed draft resolution, which was already put into blue. The answer is very simple: the United States, under various pretexts, has been dragging out the negotiating process, deviating from the normal transparent negotiating work.”
2023-12-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9520 (2023) · source
“The rapid resolution of the current impasse and the subsequent international reintegration of Afghanistan will depend on the coordinated and coherent actions of all players. It is encouraging that, on the whole, many of the ideas set out in the report echo the general approaches of stakeholders in the region to a settlement in the country, including those voiced by the members of the Moscow format. In conclusion, I would like to express my gratitude to the United Arab Emirates and Japan for their tireless efforts as the informal co-penholders on the Afghanistan dossier in the Security Council.”
2023-12-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9515 (2023) · source