Arsenii Yatseniuk makes statement at the UN Security Council in New York

Arsenii Yatseniuk emphasized Ukraine had faced a military aggression of a neighboring country, which is a P5 member of the UN Security Council: “This aggression has no reasons and no grounds. This is absolutely and entirely inacceptable in the XXI century to resolve any kind of the conflict with tanks, artillery and boots on the ground”.

He stressed the Russian Federation had violated a number of bilateral and multilateral international treaties, having been signed between Ukraine and Russia: “We strongly believe that Article 2 of the UN Charter which says all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations is not questioned by anyone”.

At this Arsenii Yatseniuk noted that the military presence was clearly identified: “This is the Russian military presence with the Russian number plates on their vehicles”.

“We urge the Russian Federation to pull back its military forces deployed in Crimea to barracks and to start real talks and negotiations in order to tackle this conflict,” the Prime Minister underlined.

He has added this is not the regional conflict, this conflict has gone beyond the borders of the region. Arsenii Yatseniuk reminded back in 1994 Ukraine had abandoned its nuclear weapon and inked the Budapest Memorandum: “We gave up one of the biggest [it was the third one in the world] arsenal of nuclear weapons. And under the Budapest Memorandum the signatories of this Memorandum guaranteed the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukrainian state.

“The way our Russian neighbours - and I believe if we start real talks with Russia, they could be real partners - acted, undermines global security and nuclear non-proliferation regime; as after these actions it would be very difficult to convince anyone in the globe not to have nuclear weapon,” Arsenii Yatseniuk explained.

He repeated once again the Ukrainian authorities are absolutely open to negotiations: “We want to have talks. We don’t want to have any kind of military aggression”.

Apart from that, he addressed the Russian Federation: “We are looking for an answer to the question whether the Russians want the war. I am convinced as Prime Minister of the country that had maintained warm and friendly relations with Russia- the Russian people don’t want war. And I express hope that the Russian government and the Russian president would heed the will of its people, we would sit at the table of negotiations and immediately resolve this conflict”.