Mr Chairperson,

We firmly believe that crimes by ISIS terrorists, no matter where they are perpetrated, must not remain unpunished. We welcome the Iraqi armed forces’ achievements in the fight against ISIS and in the restoration of their country’s sovereignty. We are ready to continue to support these efforts of the Iraqi leadership on the political plane and also in practical terms.

The ISIS threat must be eradicated everywhere where there are ISIS terrorists, and we must do this by standing together. This resolution points out the global nature of the ISIS threat and the need to rally the efforts of the Security Council member countries against it. Success in this struggle is only possible on the solid basis of international law and not in disregard of the sovereignty of the countries that have been attacked by the terrorists but on the contrary in cooperation with them. These very principles underlie the Russian Aerospace Forces’ operation in Syria, which is the main prerequisite for its effectiveness.

We again point to the importance of improving international coordination and cooperation for defeating ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other groups connected with them. At the same time, there must be no double standards, including with regard to administering justice.

As far as we know, the resolution that has been adopted today to create an investigation team that will collect and preserve evidence of crimes committed by the ISIS terrorists in Iraq has been thoroughly discussed with the authorities of that country. We welcome this approach. Regrettably, it is not always used. For example, the authors of the illegitimate General Assembly decision on a similar team for Syria did not even contemplate discussing this possibility with Damascus. We again urge the UN Secretary-General and member states to withdraw their support from the so-called “mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution” of Syria war crimes, which was created in violation of the UN Charter.

Mr Chairperson,

In this context and along with bringing military pressure to bear on ISIS, priority should be given to the national criminal and legal mechanisms that are based on the universally recognised standards. Security Council resolutions call for depriving the terrorists of even the smallest opportunity to escape justice. All their crimes, no matter to which category they belong but primarily terrorist attacks proper, must entail inevitable punishment that will be proportionate to the gravity of these crimes.

However, the main role in bringing the terrorists to account must rest with the governments of the countries that have been affected by these crimes. Our position is that the resolution we have adopted today does not undermine this precept in any way and has not created any new precedent in this regard.

We regard this resolution primarily in the context of criminal law rather than international humanitarian law. We support the Iraqi Government’s resolve to strengthen the national judicial system. We hope that the Investigation Team that has been established by the Security Council will contribute to this by acting impartially, transparently and in strict compliance with international law, including the UN Charter.