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Letter to editor: Russian ambassador responds
Recent allegations made by Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Hamianin appear to be nothing more than a swan song orchestrated by his Western sponsors.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on Dec. 19, 2024. (AFP/Alexander Nemenov)
R
ecent allegations made by Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Hamianin, still stationed in Jakarta, appear to be nothing more than a swan song orchestrated by his Western sponsors.
First of all, it is important to consider all the principles of the United Nations Charter as integrated, united and complete. Territorial integrity should not be prioritized, ignoring the right of peoples to self-determination and human rights regardless of their nationality and religion. In the Declaration on the Principles of International Law, which the UN General Assembly adopted in 1970 by consensus, the territorial integrity of a state is clearly determined by the fact that its government respects the principle of self-determination of peoples, human rights and thus represents all the people living in the territory. It is obvious that the Kiev [sic] regime, with the indulgence of the West, denies the inhabitants of Ukraine the right to self-determination, prohibits them from using their native language, professing their religion, thereby violating the UN Charter and, accordingly, cannot represent the entire people living in this territory.
Let me remind Ambassador Hamianin, who claims that Ukraine "cherishes diversity and tolerance among its people", that since 2014 the totalitarian regime in Kiev has systematically violated human rights by implementing the Law on Education aimed at banning the Russian language in the education sphere (2017) and a ban on the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (2024). All these violations include targeting ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine, fostering Russophobia, and falsifying history by glorifying Nazi war criminals from the Great Patriotic War (for the rest of the world, World War II) and committing aggression against civilians in Donbass.
The Ukrainian diplomat mentions "internationalization of the war and its expansion beyond the borders of the two states". Yet it is quite obvious that the Ukrainian crisis is not a regional conflict between Moscow and Kiev, but an element of the geopolitical confrontation between Russia and the West, in which Ukraine is only and simply a Western weapon and a springboard used against our country. The West and Kiev are grossly violating the principle of the indivisibility of security and their commitments not to strengthen their own security at the expense of the security of others.
NATO forces and mercenaries are openly involved in planning combat operations and fighting alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). NATO has also been complicit in attacks on Russian territory, including the Kursk region, and in long-range missile strikes inside Russia.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, over 15,000 mercenaries from 115 countries have arrived in Ukraine since February 2022. Of these, approximately 1,900 remain in service, more than 6,800 have lost their lives, and up to 6,400 have returned to their home countries.
On Jan. 9, Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Tatyana Moskalkova, released a list of 517 Kursk civilian residents who have been missing since the terrorist invasion of the Kursk region by the AFU. While we remain hopeful for their safety, we are acutely aware of the barbaric actions of the Banderites on our territory.
These facts underscore the necessity of the special military operation aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, as well as the elimination of threats emanating from its territory. As the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and other officials have consistently stated, all objectives of the operation will undoubtedly be achieved. That having been said, Russia's other primary objectives are to sweep all Ukrainian troops from Russian territory, to ensure a neutral, non-bloc and non-nuclear status of Ukraine, to take the situation on the ground into consideration and, as was mentioned above, to have the rights of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine respected. As Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov said, "we are ready to discuss security guarantees for a country that is now called Ukraine or for the part of this country that remains undecided in terms of self-determination, unlike Crimea, Donbass, and Novorossiya".
Sergei Tolchenov
Ambassador of Russia to Indonesia
