It is my honor and privilege for the fourth time to participate in the summits of the Crimea Platform. At the outset, I would like to congratulate Ukraine on the 4th Annual Crimea Platform Summit, which is organized amid the ongoing unprovoked, unjustified, illegal military aggression of the RF against Ukraine. This fact manifests the nation’s resilience, decisiveness, uncompromised devotion, and commitment to its existential struggle to defend its independence, preserve its identity, and protect its right to decide on its future.
We wish every success to this collective endeavor to restore justice and law as well as bring sustainable peace, stability, and security to Ukraine and the wider Black Sea region.
We also reiterate our firm adherence to the norms and principles of international law and confirm our unwavering support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty within internationally recognized borders, including territorial waters. Hence, we consider temporarily illegally occupied territories of Ukraine, including Crimea, an inseparable part of Ukraine. Consequently, we do not recognize the recent so-called municipal elections in the temporarily occupied Crimea and consider them null and void. This principled stance applies to all GUAM Member States.
Today is day 931 of this brutal, criminal, most devastating war since WWII that has been unfolding in front of the whole world. Working and living in Kyiv, we were witnessing the heartbreaking atrocities and inhuman nature of this war. Just a few days ago, we saw massive attacks on civilian quarters and infrastructure, causing massive destruction and deaths of civilians in many regions across Ukraine. We strongly condemn these barbaric acts and express our condolences to the families and relatives of the victims.
We also praise and admire the unbreakable spirit, courage, and bravery of Ukrainian people and its Armed Forces. We wish you soon Victory and call on you to stay strong and united for that purpose!
This morning, we attended the ceremony of opening a Memorial on the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars from their native land. A tragic page, a genocidal act towards indigenous people in the nation’s history. But it was one of the many similar tragic stories of the peoples of the Russian empires, which had one common destiny — they all had fallen victim to brutal colonial rule that brought them on the verge of extermination only to preserve the empire.
This war is a continuation of the same logic. It is a genocidal war aiming at the subjugation and annihilation of the entire nation with the only purpose of preserving the collapse of the decaying remnants of the empire. Still, its aims go even further — attempting to reverse history by restoring the empire on the frontiers of 1991, thus leading to an even more dangerous and unpredictable world. Driven by this insane vision and guided by the far-fetched justification of this evil war, rulers of the empire act as the arbiters of the destinies of nations and peoples as if having a mandate from above. The nature and behavior of empires don’t change.
Yet, there is a difference between what happened 80 years ago and now. Then, in the context of the ongoing WWII, no international system could prevent such crimes. Nowadays, we have a system built on the outcomes of WWII aimed at maintaining peace, stability, the coexistence of equal nations, and respect for human rights based on the agreed and universally recognized norms, principles, and rules that should have been mobilized and enacted to stop this war.
Nonetheless, we are seeing no signs of the collective will of global powers to stop this war based on the UN Charter, norms, and principles of international law. Quite the opposite, the world looks far from unified in characterizing and addressing this war. Some global players show caution in refraining from calling things by their proper names: aggression — as aggression, war — as a war, and violation of the law — as a crime.
Instead, we are falling into a dangerous whirlpool of dragging nations into different camps, introducing new artificial division lines – the so-called Global North versus Global South, democracies versus autocracies, etc. It seems the global powers continue with the practice of splitting and dividing nations for their interests and purposes. Underneath is the principle that “might have the right” — a dangerous trend of deviating from universally agreed and recognized principles and rules. When a permanent member of the UNSC, the supreme organ to ensure international peace, acts with impunity as a primary perpetrator, it is a clear sign of the inadequacy of the existing international system.
In my statement at the inaugural Crimea Platform Summit in 2021, just a few months before the invasion, I referred to the experiences of our Member States, the territorial integrity of which was violated, and their territories were illegally occupied — very telling stories. Impunity for committed crimes has led to new crimes with more significant consequences. International law was subjected to manipulations and generally ignored; the expected principled moral stance of the international community, first and foremost leading powers, was substituted by the practice of double standards, turning a blind eye, appeasement, and prevailing of business interests over international law. Such an apostasy from established rules was an invitation to new crimes that eventually brought about today’s tragic war.
Today, I can also refer to another important lesson from our region. When decades-long the so-called international mediation for peaceful settlement in the above context failed and lost sense, a military force was used in full compliance with the UN Charter, UN SC Resolutions, norms, and principles of international law to restore its territorial integrity, but no less importantly, to restore justice and law. This lesson might be relevant to the situation in Ukraine.
Comprehensive, just, lasting, and sustainable peace can only be based on the existing norms and principles of international law. All nations, particularly those under permanent threats and risks to their independence, need a predictable, safe, and secure environment to ensure the effective implementation of their national projects. The Peace Formula of President V. Zelenskyy provides a solid basis for that aim.
As the GUAM organization, we are fully committed to contributing to the objectives of the Crimea Platform through regional cooperation within our competence. First and foremost, I refer to the implementation of the GUAM Transport Corridor, of which I spoke in detail last year. We are ready and keen on cooperating closely with all regional stakeholders and interested parties of goodwill to achieve that aim.
Thank you for your kind attention and Glory to Ukraine!
