Arseniy Yatsenyuk in New York: The time will come when Russia apologizes to Ukraine

He stressed the agenda includes several options how to solve the situation, “The first one is a military option. To stop and detain Russia. We can easily do that with Russia-led guerrillas and terrorists. But it is difficult for us to fight against the well-trained and well-equipped Russian military. I can clearly state that Russian military boots are on the Ukrainian soil. And this is president Putin who personally sent his military, his agents, his heavy weapon and artillery, his lethal weapon and lethal artillery to Ukraine”.

Another option, according to Arseniy Yatsenyuk, is to launch certain peace process, “The best way to get this peace is to have the U.S.A., the EU, Ukraine and Russia sitting at the table. Otherwise, if we have direct talks with Russia they will try to do everything to outplay us”.

“The ultimate goal of Russia is to have another frozen conflict in Europe. Trying to control the east of Ukraine and move further. The ultimate goal of the Russian regime is to restore the Soviet Union in one or another form. It is what the president of the RF believes in and it is the aim of president of the Russian Federation,” the Head of Government explained.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed the Government of Ukraine highly appreciates the efforts of the United States of America, the Administration and the Congress, and noted the U.S.A. were the first to intensify the sanctions imposed against the RF, “One can tell Russia is indifferent to sanctions. It is not true. Probably, Russia doesn’t care sanctions, but it cares about the Russian ruble that fell and the inflation that is growing”.

However, according to the PM, sanctions is an effective leverage, both in the average-term and long-term perspective, “We need to get a quick solution. First, Russia has to pull back its forces, to pull back its artillery. We need to restore control over the Ukrainian-Russian border. We need to get rid of the Russian agents on Ukraine’s territory. And only afterwards we will be capable to start a real peace process”.

The best way to abolish the sanctions, according to Arseniy Yatsenyuk, “is if Russia leaves Crimea”. Otherwise, he said, it would be the plan of Russia to go back to “business as usual”, “And this is clear for me. One of the strategies of the Russian Federation is to demonstrate they are very cooperative in making peace in Ukraine. We are well aware how they make this peace - with their tanks and their soldiers”.

«My message to the Russian Federation is get out of Ukrainian land, please. And this is the best recipe and the best solution how to fix the dramatic conflict in Europe, to save my country and stop the Russian aggression,” the Head of Government stressed.

“I believe the time will come when Ukraine restore control in the east of the country and in Crimea. I believe we will turn down this dark page in our history, I believe the time will come when Russia apologizes to Ukraine,” Arseniy Yatsenyuk opined.  

The agenda of the working visit of the Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk to the United States contains his speech at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly. Live broadcast of the General Debate is at http://gadebate.un.org/

Arseniy Yatsenyuk will also meet with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and will hold talks with heads of delegations of several member states of the United Nations organization.

On Thursday, September 25, during the meeting with representatives of U.S. business circles and U.S. investment and financial institutions Arseniy Yatsenyuk will present the Government's Action Plan Recovery for Ukraine.