EMBASSY INFORMS
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We regard the expulsion of 12 diplomats from the Russian Permanent Mission in New York as a deliberate and cynical escalation in Russia-US relations provoked by Washington in violation of US obligations under the corresponding agreement with the host country.
The Biden administration is continuing a policy that seeks not only to completely destroy the foundations of interstate relations, but also to undermine the central role of the UN in an attempt to impose the notorious “rules-based order” dictated by the United States and its satellites.
I hoped to be able to attend the Human Rights Council in person after a two-year break.
However, I have been forced to address you via videoconference. The reason for this lies in the outrageous measures taken by the European Union, which has refused to respect one of the fundamental human rights – the right to freedom of movement. Members of the European Union chose the path of unilateral illegitimate sanctions and used them to avoid having to engage in direct honest dialogue, face to face. This is something that they are clearly afraid of.
I extend my greetings to the participants of the first substantive session of the UN Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes.
The establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee to develop this kind of international legal instrument was the need of the hour. Crime in cyberspace has a truly global character. The world community is facing a real "cyberpandemic". Cybercriminals are capable of inflicting serious damage on economic activities of States and the wellbeing of millions of people. The numbers speak for themselves. While in 2018, as estimated by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the annual damage amounted to 1.5 trillion US dollars, in 2025 this figure may reach 9 trillion.
For many years, the European Union, posing as a peacemaker, lavishly financed the Kiev regime, which came to power in an anti-constitutional coup. The EU stood in silence while the population of Donbass was being exterminated and the Russian language was being strangled in Ukraine. It disregarded our endless calls to take notice of the predominance of Nazis in the Ukrainian authorities, and the socioeconomic blockade and murder of innocent civilians in the southeast of Ukraine. The EU conditioned its future relations with Russia on the implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures but has done nothing to encourage Kiev to start implementing its main provisions. At the same time, the EU gave Kiev money and visa-free travel and extended anti-Russia sanctions under far-fetched pretexts. The EU took part in Kiev’s performances, which put in question the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.
The European Union has decided to support the illegitimate US practice of imposing unilateral restrictive measures on Russia. Instead of analysing what happened and critically re-evaluating their role in the situation in the DPR and LPR, the EU has resorted to the sanctions approach mistakenly believing that they are an effective way forward. Contrary to internationally accepted rules, the EU restrictions affect a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Citizens of Russia, friends, I consider it necessary today to speak again about the tragic events in Donbass and the key aspects of ensuring the security of Russia.
We believe that any deliberations about the alleged infringement on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and about the importance of implementing the Minsk Package of Measures, which has been approved by UN Security Council Resolution 2202, have nothing to do with reality. This begs the question where all these people have been for the past eight years, when the Kiev regime, which came to power through a state coup, waged a punitive military operation against its own citizens, an operation that has claimed 14,000 civilian lives. Acting in gross violation of the Minsk Package of Measures, they imposed a tight transport and economic blockade against Donbass, stopped the payment of pensions and social benefits to its residents, whom Vladimir Zelensky has described as “species” and suggested that they get out of Ukraine. These actions have all the markings of genocide.
The package of sanctions announced by the US administration (the 101st if we count them all) targets the financial sector and expands the list of individuals facing personal restrictions, in keeping with Washington’s unrelenting attempts to force Russia to change course. Efforts being undertaken for many years now to hinder the development of the Russian economy have clearly failed, but despite that the United States still has this reflex of turning to restrictive instruments, which are ineffective and counterproductive as far as the United States’ own interests are concerned.
Over the course of the past several months, we have witnessed an escalation of anti-Russian hysteria in the British media, a targeted shaping of the image of an aggressive Russia in the eyes of the British public and international community. At the same time, neither the British government, nor mass media payed any attention to the fact that for many years the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have been living under fire, with thousands dead and tens of thousands wounded. London couldn’t care less when Donbass was living under full transport and economic blockade, suspension of social benefits and pension payments.
Question: Could you please comment on the international reaction to President Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognise Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, including the reaction of UN officials, who have cited UN documents on respect for the sovereignty of states?
Sergey Lavrov: Everyone knows about that reaction. It is being broadcast by the media, the internet and social networks. We anticipated this reaction from our Western colleagues. They have formed a habit over the past decades of blaming everything on the Russian Federation, of throwing the book at us. We have taken note of this, of course. You mentioned the reaction of the UN Secretary-General, whose representative has said that Antonio Guterres considers our decision to recognise the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics to be a violation of the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Our colleagues at the UN Secretariat should act in accordance with UN decisions that are fundamental for the implementation of the principles and goals of the UN Charter. They have been adopted unanimously by consensus, that is, by all the UN member states without exception.
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