Russian President Vladimir Putin making a point today in Moscow
Moscow: Following the invasion of Ukraine in early hours today, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that “No matter who tries to stand in our way or all the more so create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history”.
In his public address, Putin made it loud and clear, “No matter how the events unfold, we are ready. All the necessary decisions in this regard have been taken. I hope that my words will be heard”.
He said the purpose of this operation is to protect people who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kiev (Kyiv) regime. “To this end, we will seek to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including against citizens of the Russian Federation.” It is not our plan to occupy the Ukrainian territory. We do not intend to impose anything on anyone by force,” he said.
Putin claimed that the current events had nothing to do with a desire to infringe on the interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. “They are connected with the defending Russia from those who have taken Ukraine hostage and are trying to use it against our country and our people. I reiterate: we are acting to defend ourselves from the threats created for us and from a worse peril than what is happening now,” he said.
The Russian President sought to remind that that in 2000–2005 Russia used its military to push back against terrorists in the Caucasus and “stood up for the integrity of our state. We preserved Russia. In 2014, we supported the people of Crimea and Sevastopol. In 2015, we used our Armed Forces to create a reliable shield that prevented terrorists from Syria from penetrating Russia. This was a matter of defending ourselves. We had no other choice”.
The same is happening today, he said, and accused the US-led NATO alliance of not leaving him any other option for defending Russia and its people, “other than the one we are forced to use today”.
He said in these circumstances, Russia had to take bold and immediate action, and that the people’s republics of Donbass had asked Russia for help.
“In this context, in accordance with Article 51 (Chapter VII) of the UN Charter, with permission of Russia’s Federation Council, and in execution of the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic, ratified by the Federal Assembly on February 22, I made a decision to carry out a special military operation,” he explained.
Hitting hard at NATO, he asserted that any further expansion of the North Atlantic alliance’s infrastructure or the ongoing efforts to gain a military foothold of the Ukrainian territory was unacceptable for Russia. “Of course, the question is not about NATO itself. It merely serves as a tool of US foreign policy. The problem is that in territories adjacent to Russia, which I have to note is our historical land, a hostile “anti-Russia” is taking shape. Fully controlled from the outside, it is doing everything to attract NATO armed forces and obtain cutting-edge weapons,” he said.
In the meantime, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today that there was “still a chance to return to international law and international commitments”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, that he had “tense and detailed discussions” with the United States and other NATO members today, and that “we will always be ready for dialogue that will return us to justice and the principles of the UN Charter”.
However, in a separate statement, the Russian foreign ministry lamented the European Union’s decision to support the “illegitimate” US practise of imposing unilateral restrictive measures on Russia. The sanctions were imposed in response to the recognition by the Russian Federation of the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and Russia claimed that “instead of analysing what happened and critically re-evaluating their role in the situation” in the DPR and LPR, the EU resorted to the sanctions approach “mistakenly believing that they are an effective way forward”.
Russia took exception to EU restrictions on the Russian foreign ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova and said that was contrary to internationally accepted rules, and affected a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“As a reminder, the Western countries do not have a monopoly on international law or the driving forces behind international development. Under Article 8 of the Charter for European Security adopted at the OSCE Summit in Istanbul in November 1999, neither the EU, nor NATO “can have any preeminent responsibility for maintaining peace and stability in the OSCE area or can consider any part of the OSCE area as its sphere of influence.” No one authorised the EU to address the problems of war and peace in Europe; only the UN Security Council has this international legal prerogative,” it stated.
It accused the EU of not even bothering to delve into historical truth or to take steps to ensure the legitimate interests of the residents of Donbass, their human dignity and the desire for a peaceful life on their own land, things that have been flagrantly violated for eight years now, in the case of the sovereign DPR and LPR.
“Where were the EU representatives when Kiev’s regime imposed a socioeconomic blockade on the DPR and LPR and issued orders to shell towns in southeastern Ukraine killing civilians? Where were they when the Verkhovna Rada was churning out laws that openly infringe on the rights of the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine, openly violating its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Protocol 1 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe for the Protection of National Minorities, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, the document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE and other documents?
“Instead, the European Union pursued a policy of covering up the ultra-nationalist Ukrainian regime, which is responsible for the destruction of its own country and the destabilisation of the situation in Europe. Following open support for the anti-constitutional coup in Ukraine in 2014, the EU once again betrayed European ideals of respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms, trying to punish the peoples of the DPR and LPR for their democratic choice and self-determination. Hypocrisy has been elevated to the rank of politics.
“Our repeated messages to Kiev and its Western handlers about the need to stop the violence in Donbass and to implement the Minsk Package of Measures have fallen on deaf ears. For them, the people of the DPR and LPR are just a bargaining chip. Even after Russia recognised the independence of these republics, the shelling not only did not stop, but even intensified. Given these circumstances, a decision was made to conduct a special military operation designed to stop the tragedy in Ukraine, which began after an illegal coup in 2014,” the Russian foreing ministry stated. It further said the EU’s continuing unfriendly steps against Russia and Russia’s fraternal DPR and LPR “will not be able to stop the progressive development of our states and the provision of assistance to them. In accordance with the principle of reciprocity, which is fundamental to international law, we will take tough response measures”.
– global bihari bureau
