Due to the refusal of
the Russian side to participate in the joint meeting of the OSCE Permanent
Council and Forum for Security Cooperation, devoted to accumulation of the
armed forces of the Russian Federation
near the state border of Ukraine,
we would like to state the following.
The Russian Federation occupied a part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, the Crimean Autonomous Republic,
and thus treacherously violated the norms of international law and the
fundamental principles of contemporary coexistence of states formalized in the
UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, bilateral and multilateral agreements.
On this background the
accumulation of military units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation along Ukraine’s borders, causes major
concern. The inspections carried out by Ukraine on the Russian territory in
accordance with the Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building
Measures and the Open Skies Treaty, confirm this fact.
In this regard,
Ukraine applied the mechanisms provided by Chapter III of the Vienna Document in
order to find out the real intentions of the Russian Federation and the
ultimate goal of ongoing military buildup, taking into account that the Russian
side, disregarding the obvious facts, is permanently denying that it is
carrying out unscheduled military activities near the borders with Ukraine.
Unfortunately, for
unknown reasons, the Russian
Federation refused to take advantage of the
chance to clarify to the OSCE participating States at the joint OSCE PC and FSC
meeting the real reasons of the presence of its troops near our borders.
The refusal of the Russian Federation
to participate in the joint meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council and Forum for
Security Cooperation is considered as unpreparedness of the Russian delegation
for an open dialogue in the spirit of the Vienna Document. With its refusal the
Russian side only strengthens the arguments in favor of existence of secret
plans of the Russian Federation
concerning the practical use of its military force against Ukraine.
The declarations of the
Russian Federation of
allegedly "positive" results of observation flights and inspections
on its territory, which seemingly demonstrate absence of any significant
unscheduled and unusual military activities nearby the border with Ukraine,
are misleading the international community. It is well known that only
appropriately processed and analyzed photographs can be considered as the final
result of observation flights, and in no way just statement by the observing
mission the fact of compliance by the receiving party with the relevant
technical procedures.
The Ukrainian side
responsibly declares that the materials of the two observation flights under
the Treaty on Open Skies, conducted in March and April of this year, clearly
demonstrate the increase in numbers of air component on the Russian airfields
located nearby Ukraine.
Moreover, during the
Vienna Document inspection, conducted on March 18-21, 2014 in the Belgorod and
Kursk regions, the inspecting team was observing presence on the ground of three battalions
of the 76-th landing assault division and of the 106-th airborne division, not
only outside their permanent deployment sites (the cities of Tula, Ryazan and
Pskov), but also outside the training areas, where they were supposed to carry
out planned military exercises.
That is why the
Ukrainian side is quite reasonably wondering, what could be the real reason of
the presence of elite units of the Russian Armed Forces in the open field near
the border of Ukraine.
Instead we observe
that the Russian side, cynically declaring that restrictive levels set forth by
the Vienna Document are not exceeded, continues to increase its military
presence in the border areas nearby Ukraine. The fact that military
preparations take place against the background of adoption on the 1-st of March, 2014 by the Federation Council of the Federal
Assembly of the Russian Federation of the Resolution "On the Use of the
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the Territory of Ukraine” causes a
special concern.
Ukraine urges the Russian Federation to strictly comply with the
letter and spirit of the Vienna Document, rigorously fulfill its provisions and
take all possible actions in order to dispel concerns with regard to its
military activities, which are felt not only by Ukraine, but also by other nations
within the OSCE area.
We believe that the
issue of concluding the bilateral Agreement with the Russian Federation on Additional
Confidence- and Security-Building Measures in the Border Areas, supplementing
and strengthening the provisions of the Vienna Document, has become acute as
never before. Such idea was repeatedly proposed by the Ukrainian Side, but was
permanently rejected by Russia,
which defended its position by the “brotherly” relations between our nations.
Ukraine is convinced
that only through strengthening confidence, transparency and mutual respect can
be resolved the most acute problems, which constitute a real threat to the
European, as well as to the global security.
