Statement by Mr. Volodymyr Lakomov, Director-General for International Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly First Committee.
Main takeaways:
Ukraine continues to consider the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a cornerstone of the global non-proliferation and disarmament regime, as well as strongly supports the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the negotiation of the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty.
We reiterate our support for the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, as well as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Production, Stockpiling and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Landmines and on their Destruction.
Ukraine recognizes the IAEA’s leading role in the nuclear non-proliferation regime and reconfirms its support for its activities aimed at strengthening the effectiveness and improving the efficiency of the safeguards system.
We acknowledge the importance of nuclear weapon-free zones, which should be established on the basis of arrangements among the States of the region concerned.
In 2014 the Russian Federation violated the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances of 1994 by launching armed aggression against Ukraine and occupied Crimea, as well as certain areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, thus fully neglecting the security assurances provided to my country. What is especially cynical is that the Russian Federation, a State who lost its credibility a long time ago and is a major reason of the deterioration of the global and regional arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation regimes pretends to be a “champion in this field”, including by promoting various initiatives aimed at strengthening such regimes.
Ukraine continues to fully comply with its nuclear related obligations and safeguards regime on the territories, controlled by the Government of Ukraine. Russia, who de-facto controls Crimea and certain parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, should immediately refrain from actions aimed at undermining the ability of the IAEA to implement safeguards in Ukraine.
Since February 2014 the Russian Federation has been transferring different types of conventional weapons, including those capable of delivering nuclear weapons to the temporarily occupied Crimea. It has also seized the former nuclear weapons storage sites. Russia’s actions undermine the non-nuclear status of the Ukraine and pose a serious threat to the non-proliferation regime and the Non-Proliferation Treaty in general.
Ukraine together with 43 other States and the European Union has established the International Crimea Platform that adopted the Joint Declaration of its Participants, which is open for joining by all UN Member States.
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The Delegation of Ukraine also exercised the right of reply to the statement made by the Delegation of the Russian Federation, in which the latter provided its traditional manipulative and fake narratives on the status of Crimea and the situation in the east of Ukraine:
Russia is recognized by the UN loud and clear, as an occupying Power in Ukraine. Recognized by the General Assembly – the most representative body of the United Nations. In this regard, it has neither legal no moral right to pronounce itself on Ukraine in this forum. At least, until it returns Crimea to Ukraine, withdraws its troops from the certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and pays in full for its aggression.
On arms control and disarmament, Russia has been a serial violator of relevant obligations and commitments, not to mention the principles set forth in the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act. Russia’s aggressive military activity combined with its selective implementation of arms control instruments have undermined European security and the arms control architecture.
Let me recall that in 2007, Russia suspended its participation in the key regime of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty (the CFE Treaty) and in so doing set the conditions for the hidden “snap” aggression against Ukraine in 2014. During 2014-2020, Russia “de facto” removed from the zone of application of the CFE-Treaty, the Open Skies Treaty and confidence-building measures the parts of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and Georgia with a total area of over 57,500 square km. These temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and Georgia were transformed by Russia into nontransparent “grey zones” with a large-scale concentration of Russia’s combat forces, weapons, and equipment.
To date, Russia continues its destabilizing transfers of military goods to our territory, which pose a threat to European security. The certain areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are full of dangerous explosive remnants of war, causing severe casualties among civilians, including children.
