Kiev does nothing to implement Geneva agreements - Russia's ambassador to UN

The authorities in Kiev have done nothing for the implementation of the agreements on the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine that were reached at a four-sided meeting in Geneva on April 17, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

“Nothing has been done by the authorities in Kiev for the implementation of the Geneva document,” he stressed. “Our Western colleagues, first of all American who have an unprecedented influence on the current Kiev (authorities) have either failed or did not want to persuade Kiev to fulfil its obligations under the Geneva declaration. They should clearly understand the measure of their responsibility if the situation in Ukraine continues to aggravate,” he said.

The diplomat recalled that at the meeting in Geneva with the participation of Russia, Ukraine, the United States and European Union the parties reached an agreement on “zero tolerance to extremists” and on their disarmament. “Neither the Right Sector that is marching under Nazi banners nor other radical organisations are laying down arms,” the diplomat said. “On the contrary, they have begun to legalise these groups, forming from them the Dnepr, Slobozhanshchina and Donbass paramilitary battalions,” he said.

Churkin sharply criticised diplomats of other countries who spoke at the meeting, including the US and British, who stated that Kiev was fully complying with its obligations under the Geneva agreement. However, in the view of US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, Russia is doing nothing to influence the “separatists” in the southeast of Ukraine.According to Churkin, in violation of the Geneva agreements, Independence Square in the centre of Kiev where concrete obstacles are installed and buildings in the city are still occupied. “Nobody is vacating anything in Kiev, and Washington officials state complacently that the buildings ‘are legally rented,’” the Russian ambassador said. He added that repression of people who disagree with the new authorities continues in Ukraine, and also there is no promised amnesty for the protesters - people’s governor of Donetsk Pavel Gubarev who called for a referendum on the issue of the country’s federalisation is still in prison. The OSCE observers have confirmed that he was tortured and now he is on an indefinite hunger strike,” the Russian ambassador to the UN said.

“How can the people’s militia fighters in the east of the country be persuaded to lay down arms if they have been encircled, as in Slavyansk, by units of the Ukrainian armed forces and the so-called “national guard” detachments that are completely manned by gunmen of the Right Sector?” Churkin asked the colleagues. According to him, claims to Russia that it is building up its military presence on the Ukrainian borders are also groundless.

He warned that “the Kiev regime, encouraged by the Western ‘friends,’ is persistently pushing the country towards a catastrophe.” According to the diplomat, just several days after the meeting, “there was the resumption of the so-called ‘antiterrorist,’ and in essence - punitive operation.” “Some 15,000 troops, tanks, armoured infantry carriers, artillery, planes, units of the Right Sector were sent to the southeast of Ukraine,” the Russian ambassador to the UN said.“Our armed forces are in the Russian territory, and the American military, so to speak, are in a wandering mood. They appear now in Australia, then in Lithuania or Poland, or an American naval ship stays in the Black Sea longer than is permitted by international law. Yes, our military periodically conduct manoeuvres, acting transparently and complying with all the existing international agreements. We have no aggressive plans regarding Ukraine,” the Russian ambassador stressed.

He also noted that instead of “the conscientious joint work with the aim of helping Ukraine out of the crisis,” the United States and EU countries “prefer to spread malicious insinuations against Russia’s policy, intrigue against Russia, inventing the so-called sanctions that are senseless and counterproductive.