Head of the Russian delegation and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Alexander Kuznetsov’s remarks during the debate at the 7th Special Session of the UNESCO Executive Board, Paris, March 15, 2022
Madam Chairperson,
Colleagues,
As you are well aware, Russia has consistently opposed any political agenda at UNESCO. This leads us to this question: Why is this special session of the Executive Board needed at all? One gets the impression that the Western countries, hysterical about the crisis in Ukraine that they have largely caused, are looking to take this organisation hostage in order to satisfy their geopolitical ambitions. But I would also like to ask the representatives of those states that are not involved in this crisis: Do you understand that, for the first time in the history of UNESCO, its activities have been politicised to such an extent that its main statutory priorities are actually called into question? In other words, are you ready to sacrifice UNESCO to the interests of a certain group of countries? That is the main question one should be asking in connection with today's meeting.
At the same time, amid this unprecedented campaign of fabrications and misinformation launched by the West, we consider it our duty to explain to our colleagues the motives behind our actions and the true essence of what is happening in Ukraine. Many Western media outlets have been churning out a flurry of anti-Russia fake news. For example, we have recently heard accusations made against the Russian armed forces for allegedly bombing a maternity hospital in Mariupol. In reality though – this had actually been reported at the UN in New York – that hospital had long been occupied by the neo-Nazi Azov battalion. All women in labour, all medical personnel had been removed, and the premises were used as a base by armed extremists. This is how public opinion is being manipulated. And there are many such examples.
At the same time, the true causes of the Ukrainian crisis are being grossly distorted or hushed up. As is widely known, it did not begin with the launch of the Russian special military operation. In fact, it started much earlier, primarily because the criminal regime that has controlled Ukraine since the bloody anti-constitutional coup d'état carried out in February 2014 has enjoyed the connivance of its Western handlers. The coup took place contrary to Germany, Poland and France’s guarantees regarding the implementation of the agreement on the settlement of the internal Ukrainian crisis.
Certain Western politicians and journalists almost ridicule our evidence of neo-Nazism and genocide in Ukraine. Meanwhile, battalions with SS patches have paraded in front of the President of Ukraine, staged torchlight processions with Nazi symbols, and engaged in military training. They have been teaching intolerance and hatred in kindergartens and schools. Such videos can be found online in abundance, with children chanting “Ukraine is above all” and promising to slaughter Russians when they grow up. Was the West unaware of this? Of course not!
And now, we would like to discuss genocide. For eight years, the Kiev regime waged a war against its own people. Donbass has a population of four million. In all, 14,000 people, mostly civilians, including women and children, were killed since Kiev launched its aggression against the local population. All these eight years, the Ukrainian regime attacked and fired upon residential areas, villages, schools and kindergartens. It also launched artillery and air strikes against the densely populated districts of Lugansk and Donetsk. On March 14, a Tochka-U tactical missile with a cluster warhead hit the central district of Donetsk. This became an absolutely criminal act, and the use of cluster munitions is banned by international conventions and agreements. The missile strike killed 21 people and seriously wounded 28 more, including children, women and senior citizens. We are urging the Director-General and members of the Executive Council to resolutely condemn this monstrous act. All this once again confirms the Nazi and inhuman essence of the incumbent Ukrainian regime.
The West knew about these outrages, and it remains aware of them. However, they made no compassionate statements. By keeping silent, they have in fact aligned themselves with those Kiev leaders who, in their own words, perceived the people of Lugansk and Donetsk as “terrorists” and “species,” and whom they promised to “drive into basements.” The new facts, now being unearthed in Ukraine, show that an attack on these people’s republics was meticulously planned for this month.
Why are the authorities in Kiev so dear to the US-led West, and why is the West ready to forgive them for any crimes against human rights? The answer is simple: the West needs any anti-Russia regime because it allows the West to use Ukrainian territory as a bridgehead to threaten Russia’s security and to “contain” this country.
This explains Western support for Kiev’s irresponsible policy to resolve the conflict in Donbass, its invariable line to torpedo the Minsk agreements, its striving to become a NATO member and, finally, Zelensky’s statement highlighting an intention to acquire nuclear weapons. People attending the Munich Security Conference applauded this statement. This also explains the connivance at attempts to suppress the resistance of Donbass by force. In late 2021 and early 2022, these attempts drastically aggravated the situation around the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, escalating into regular bombardment of their territory and resulting in the forced evacuation of part of the civilian population to Russia.
It was in this context that the Russian Armed Forces launched the special military operation. The operation’s main goals are the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine. The operation also aims to protect the people of Donbass and the Russian Federation’s citizens from extermination and a military threat posed by NATO. It is conducted under the law, under Article 51.7 of the UN Charter, with the approval of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and in line with official appeals by the leadership of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics.
At present, the threat to Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure, including that related to UNESCO, comes, not from the Russian military, which only strikes at military targets with precision weapons, but from the Kiev regime and the “nationalist battalions,” which have unleashed terror on their fellow citizens. The neo-Nazis place tanks, artillery and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) near the walls of kindergartens and schools, set up firing positions on the roofs of houses, and use women and children as a “human shield.”
Criminals have been released from prisons. The uncontrolled distribution of tens of thousands of firearms (more than 10,000 in Kiev alone) was a criminal decision by the Kiev regime. Armed gangs of looters and robbers are rampaging in the cities of Ukraine. Bandits shoot ordinary citizens without warning. Western countries are silent again. They seem to have decided to fight Russia “to the last Ukrainian.”
However, none of these facts have even been mentioned in the UNESCO statements on Ukraine. Unfortunately, the Secretariat chose to ignore them, which is not surprising, since for all these eight years it has been stubbornly overlooking the persecution of the Russian language and culture in Ukraine. And all this is happening despite our numerous appeals. How many times has the Russian side called on UNESCO to make a public assessment of Ukraine’s flagrant violations of the 1960 Convention against Discrimination in Education, of the denial of the use of their native language to a large part of the population, the sweeping purge of Russian-language media from Ukraine’s national information space and the numerous cases of persecution of Russian journalists? We have only received empty and meaningless answers.
Even today, we do not hear any UNESCO voices in defence of Russian culture, while a real “witch hunt” is underway in Europe. Not to mention the fact that its victims are figures directly connected with the UN, for example, the UNESCO Artist for Peace, Valery Gergiev.
We would like to remind you of the drastically different reaction of the Western countries to NATO’s bombing of former Yugoslavia in 1999. The Europeans were watching impassively as the barbarous operation unfolded, killing almost 3,500 civilians, including 90 children. Some 12,500 people were crippled. More than 200,000 Serbs had to flee from the territory of Kosovo. I do not recall any special session of the UNESCO Executive Board on that situation. To say nothing about other “military operations” of the United States and its allies around the world, thousands of kilometres away from their own territories. Go to Wikipedia and check what sanctions the European Union imposed on the United States for bombing Iraq without any justification whatsoever. How many American athletes were suspended from competitions?
At this session today, a draft resolution has been presented that contains calls for peace. But the question is: How is this compatible with the actual actions of the West, which continues to shower Ukraine with weapons and to encourage the sending of mercenaries? As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently said, “the West’s furious reaction to our actions demonstrates that this is a life and death struggle, a struggle for Russia’s right to be on the political map of the world with full respect for its legitimate interests.”
The arrogant philosophy of the West, a philosophy based on a sense of superiority, exceptionality, and license, must no longer prevail. The sovereign equality of states is a key principle of the UN Charter, and it fully applies to the activities of UNESCO.
As before, we are interested in finding a diplomatic solution to this crisis. Russia is open to an equal and mutually respectful dialogue, including in humanitarian affairs, and is ready to look for a fair balance of interests.
Thank you.
