Unfortunately today we are in a situation when Russia — a permanent member of the UN Security Council — has become a real threat to the entire civilised world. The Russian aggressor is not satisfied by the occupation and annexation by force of a part of Ukraine — Crimea. Russia doesn’t care at all that it is facing increasing international isolation as a result of its blatant violation of all relevant international law rules. To prove that, one can simply look at the voting in the UN Security Council and the General Assembly issuing the resolution which gave overwhelming support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders and called upon all responsible states to refrain from actions aimed at the partial and other violations of the national unity of Ukraine.

In this backdrop, Russia goes further and escalates the current crisis by intensifying significantly the activities of its armed forces near Ukrainian borders. By doing that Russia has proved that its military activities during the last months near the Ukrainian border were not routine or planned in advance, but linked to the plans of Moscow to further destabilise Ukraine. The Russian foreign minister is now even saying clearly that Russia can send troops to Ukraine. Russia’s reference to the right of self-defence is enormously cynical as Russia herself acts as aggressor having occupied the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and nowadays grossly

interferes in the internal affairs of Ukraine, destabilising the situation in the eastern regions. Russia de facto challenges the system of international law and international relations by making an argument that an armed aggression against another sovereign state can be justified by the right of self-defence.

Obviously, speculations with slogans alike the so-called “protection of the rights of compatriots, Russians and Russian-speaking population” abroad could serve as a pretext for Russia to wage wars in any area where there is a “Russian-speaking population”. Here Russia for some reason didn’t seem to mind the report of the UN Assistant General Secretary for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic, which states that there are no significant violations of human rights, including any interference with the right to use mother language.

What’s the point of all this and what is the main goal of Russia?

The answer here is that Moscow is trying very hard to make our country stay in the sphere of Russian influence and prevent deepening of its European integration course. Kremlin has to learn that its militant and aggressive actions will not lead to anything but the opposite result. The sooner the Kremlin “analysts” stop misleading themselves with fairy tales that Russian troops would be welcomed with bread and salt in the eastern region of Ukraine, the faster we will find a way out of the current crisis.

It is not the West who is pushing Ukraine to the EU as Russia claims. But rather it is the Ukrainian society that has become long ago pro-European in its mentality and values appealing to the EU to move faster with Ukrainian integration and recognising the inviolable right of Ukraine to become an integral part of united Europe. Nobody doubts nowadays that the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians is in favour of this integration. And Russia is simply failing to understand or recognise this. Russia has no right to interfere in internal affairs of Ukraine and prevent its government from implementing the key foreign policy priorities supported by the people.

Moscow is trying to influence the legal and lawful actions of the Ukrainian government, aimed at combating and eradicating armed bandit groups and formations in the eastern regions of Ukraine, that under the Russian national flag are committing murders, taking hostages and committing other terrorist acts against the civilians. The high-ranking officer of Russian special forces Ihor Strelkov (the true name Ihor Girkin, colonel of GRU, Russian military intelligence service) is not even hiding from the cameras giving interviews to the Russian media from the Ukrainian city of Slovyansk. What else do you need to confirm and prove that Russia is actively engaged in organising the riots and terrorist activity in the east of Ukraine.

It is surprising that Russia which itself suffers from the terrorist threat, has become today not only the state sponsor and state exporter of terrorism, but is also clearly ready to use its armed forces to defend the terrorists on the territory of Ukraine.

Russian leadership should not hang tags and make false statements claiming that Ukrainian authorities “unleashed a war” or “commit a crime” against their own people. These statements are another outright lie, deliberate substitution of concepts and provocation by Russia which has neither legal nor moral right to make such assessments regarding the counter-terrorist efforts of Ukrainian government, given disproportionate brutality of anti-terrorist operations in the Russian Federation itself.

To destroy terrorists on its territory Russia is using all of its military arsenal — from tanks to the artillery and aircrafts. This April, Russian special forces conducted four counter-terrorist operations in the North Caucasus regions. While conducting the last two operations in Dagestan in the cities of Noviy and Pervomaysk (Hasavyurt) artillery shells destroyed an entire residential building. Among those who perished was found the body of a woman who was in the last month of pregnancy. In the last couple of years, Russian special forces counter-terrorist operations resulted in mass murder and disappearance of thousands of civilians.

In contrast to the “bitter truth” of Russian counter-terrorist measures, Ukrainian security forces within the framework of the anti-terrorist operation are acting accurately and moderately, localising the terrorists and avoiding civilian casualties. Anti-terrorist operations in eastern Ukraine aim to protect the civilians from terrorist acts, murders, intimidation, intolerance and anti-Semitism, committed by those armed bandit groups with the direct participation and encouragement by representatives of the Russian intelligence services.

To sum up I would like to point out that the international community should give a serious assessment of the statements and actions of Russia regarding Ukraine and take decisive steps with all possible means to stop the aggressiveness of the Kremlin.

However, if the Russian leadership is really genuine in its statements of the need for the de-escalation of the situation in Ukraine, the only correct and welcome steps would be:

n Revocation of the Federation Council Resolution #48, which allows the Russian president to use the armed forces on the territory of Ukraine;

n Termination of the so-called “tactical manoeuvres” and withdrawal of Russian troops from the border with Ukraine;

n Denunciation of armed militants who serve under the flag of Russia, and force them to lay down their arms and adhere to peaceful political means to protect their views.

This would have been a significant practical contribution by the Russian side in the implementation of the Geneva document, steps that the world unfortunately has not seen from the Kremlin.

Yuriy Polurez is the Ambassador of Ukraine to the UAE.