Good day!
I want we discuss now
the situation that occurs in Eastern Ukraine and discus tomorrow's talks in Switzerland
in the format of Ukraine-EU-USA-Russia.
I will begin with an
all-national dialogue that we carry during last month. The position of the
Ukrainian Government is unchangeable. It is the decentralization of power,
amending the Constitution of Ukraine, protection of national minorities,
Russian-speaking population, unity, integrity and sovereignty of the Ukrainian
state.
And with these
positions we went to the East. We turned to Donetsk, Lugansk, Odesa and Mykolaiv, Lviv and Ternopil, and that is
what the whole country expects. The country expects peace, tranquility and
harmony.
And a Constitutional
Commission, represented by all political forces both from the East and from the
West, which was also attended by legitimately elected heads of city state
administrations including from Eastern Ukraine
and representatives of MPs, has been established in the Parliament for this
purpose. Yes, they are our political opponents today, but they are people who
live in Donetsk
or Lugansk, and they have had a mandate from these
people. And they have a legal right to express the will and interests of Eastern Ukraine.
We continue our
all-national dialogue, but those who are holding guns in their hands, they
don’t want the unity of the country and they don’t talk about how to give
additional powers to those or other regions, or how to protect rights of minorities.
Their task, which is sponsored by the Russian Federation, is the
destruction of Ukrainian independence.
I would like to point
on Russia.
The Russian government keeps silence about the fact that their intelligence and
subversive forces together with local terrorists with guns are shooting and
killing Ukrainian soldiers and civilians over the past few weeks. Where is the
position of the Russian government, which would have condemned terrorism?
Russia, over last
two days started two anti-terrorist operations: one anti-terrorist operation
was launched in Nalchik, the other operation was launched in Makhachkala. So, Russia is fighting terrorists. And
when Ukraine has began to
protect its citizens, then there would be not a fighting terrorism according to
Russia
but this is a crackdown on mass protests.
As I understand the Russian Federation has a new product for export:
besides of oil and gas exports, Russia
has begun to export terrorism to Ukraine. And it seems that the only
country in the world - Russia
– doesn’t see that Russian sabotage groups committing terrorist acts on the territory of Ukraine. I see that Vladimir Vladimirovich something changed, perhaps, approaches, and
then he told earlier about a loo, and now somehow has
begun to support terrorists in neighboring countries.
We look forward to
meeting in Switzerland.
This should be the first public meeting in the quadripartite format - the U.S., EU, Ukraine
and Russia.
Today we will discuss
guidelines for the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Directive the only
one - Russian government must immediately withdraw its intelligence and
sabotage groups condemn terrorists and require them to release the facilities
and administration, if Russia
is interested in stabilizing the situation, but I have a very, very grave
doubts. Conducting all these terrorist operations by Russian secret services is
not just unacceptable, but it is the international crime.
That is why we are
ready tomorrow with our Western partners to hold the first meeting in this
format with the Russian
Federation. This meeting should be not a
protocol meeting, but this meeting should have an aim to stabilize the
situation in Ukraine, stop
terrorist activities supported by the Russian Federation and update
dialog.
This is our main massage
to this quadrilateral meeting and this is the position that must restore
stability in Europe and, as today's events threaten Ukraine,
the Ukrainians and have begun to threaten Europe
and the European Union. And it became clear that our Russian neighbors decided
to build a new Berlin
Wall and they want to return to the Cold War, and began to prepare for this
through hot terrorism in Ukraine.
So, our appeal to Russia:
"Stop supporting terrorists. Condemn them, and we understand ourselves at
home."
