In response to President Putin’s address to the Russian Parliament
24 Mar 2014 11:07 AM
UK government's
response to points made by President Putin in his address to the Russian
Parliament on 17 March.
President Putin addressed a
joint session of the Russian Parliament on 17 March. Here is Her
Majesty’s Government’s response to some of the points he made in
his speech.
President
Putin:
On 17 March in the Crimea, there
was a referendum in full correspondence with democratic procedures and
international legal norms. More than 82% of the voters took part in the
referendum; more than 96% spoke for reunification with Russia. These figures
are more than convincing.
Response:
Not only did the referendum
violate Ukraine’s constitution, it was not in line with internationally
agreed democratic procedures and best practices. Russian armed forces have been
in Crimea for several weeks, during which time they installed a pro-Russian
puppet administration that voted through a referendum via a closed
parliamentary session, under watch from armed, foreign gunmen, from which MPs
opposed to Russia’s agenda were excluded. The referendum’s
preparation – which was just 10 days – was characterised by a
complete lack of transparency over the composition of local electoral
commissions, voters’ lists, and the number of ballot papers issued - with
no meaningful impartial observers. The wording of the two questions posed made
it impossible for voters to express support for Crimea’s existing status
within Ukraine – nor were the questions on the ballot explained, nor was
there a free public debate in Crimea. There are credible reports of
intimidation. The 96.7% result is wildly out of kilter with the results of a
representative opinion poll, conducted by a reputable Ukrainian research
institute, as recently as February 2014, which indicated that only 41% of
Crimean voters supported the region’s incorporation into Russia. The
turnout is also suspiciously high given wide opposition
boycott.
President
Putin:
I understand those who came out
to Maidan, speaking against corruption, for peaceful protest, for just
elections. Elections are there to change the power that is not good for people,
but those who are behind the latest events in Ukraine were aiming a different
objective. They were preparing coup d’état. They were planning to
grab power without stopping before anything. Terror, murders, pogroms:
everything was used. The main figures in the coup were antisemites,
Russophobes, nationalists and neo-Nazis. And they determined a lot of
what’s happening in Ukraine.
Response:
Since President
Yanukovych’s departure, the Ukrainian Parliament and interim
government’s actions have been in keeping with the Ukrainian
Constitution. Numerous groups, including the United Nations, OSCE and the
Ukrainian rabbinical association, have not seen widespread human rights
violations, or anti-Semitic pogroms anywhere in Ukraine. Former President
Yanukovych’s own party, the Party of the Regions, supported measures
implementing the interim Ukrainian government and calling for new elections.
The single greatest destabilizing force in Ukraine right now is
Russia.
Euromaidan was composed of a
cross-spectrum of ordinary Ukrainians with a common agenda to demonstrate their
opposition to abuses of power and their desire to see change. It was remarkably
disciplined and self-restrained. They acted only in self-defence in response to
violence initiated by the authorities under the direction of former President
Yanukovych.
President
Putin:
One of the first acts of the new
authorities was scandalous revising of the law on languages.
Response:
Ukraine’s interim
President refused to enact legislation limiting the use of the Russian language
at regional level, and Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yatseniuk has said that
this proposed law will not be enacted.
President
Putin:
It is also clear that there is
no legal and executive power in Ukraine.
Response:
There is clear legal and
executive authority in Ukraine. The abandonment of office by former President
Yanukovych was confirmed by a constitutional vote in Parliament – which
remained unchanged and was elected in a free vote of the people in Ukraine. The
interim government was approved by an overwhelming majority in a free vote in
the Ukrainian Parliament, including representatives of Yanukovych’s Party
of the Regions.
President
Putin:
Those who were resisting the
putsch were threatened with repressions and punishment, and the first was
Crimea – Russian-speaking Crimea. Therefore, citizens of Crimea and
Sevastopol addressed themselves to Russian government to protect their lives:
not to let happen in the Crimea what is happening in Kiev, Donetsk and other
cities of Ukraine.
Response:
The OSCE High Commissioner said
that she has found
“no evidence of any violence or threats to the rights of Russian
speakers” in Crimea. Ukrainian ombudsman Valeriya Lutkovska said that
no residents of Crimea have contacted her regarding the violation of their
rights.
No credible/verifiable evidence
has been presented to justify claims that Russian nationals are under threat in
Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine. We have seen no evidence of attacks on churches
in Eastern Ukraine, as the Russians have claimed. Ukraine’s interim
President refused to enact legislation limiting the use of the Russian language
at regional level.
President
Putin:
Military forces of Russia have
never entered Crimea: they were there in accordance with international
agreement
Response:
Not true. Their equipment,
armaments and training clearly mark them out as Russian troops – for
example driving military vehicles with Russian licence plates. If they are
local militias, why do they not openly identify themselves as such? Black Sea
Fleet (BSF) personnel have operated outside their bases in contravention of BSF
agreements.
The General Staff of the
Ukrainian Armed Forces has reported that the 1st Motor Rifle Battalion Vostok
of the 18th Separate Vehicle-Mounted Assault Brigade, which is stationed in
Kalinovka in the Chechen Republic, is now deployed in the town of Dzhankoy in
Crimea. Also servicemen of the 31st Separate Assault Brigade of the Airborne
Troops, which is stationed in the Russian town of Ulyanovsk, and the 22nd
Special-Purpose Brigade from the Krasnodar Territory are deployed in Crimea as
well.
There are a number of examples
of these troops freely identifying themselves as Russian security forces
– eg Military personnel at Belbeck and Simferopol
airports.
President
Putin:
Crimean authorities were also
basing on Kosovo precedent that our… the precedent that was created by
our Western partners with their own hands in a situation that was absolutely
similar to Crimea, and they recognise Kosovo separatism…
legal….The fact that, during the Kosovo… the conflict in Kosovo,
there were many victims.
Response:
The situations in Crimea and
Kosovo are not comparable. Kosovo’s eventual independence came about
through a long, inclusive, internationally-sanctioned process, under the
auspices of a UN Security Council Resolution, reaching an agreed political
settlement. The referendum in Crimea is attempting retrospectively to
legitimise the unilateral action of one state which, as last weekend’s
Security Council showed, is acting in complete diplomatic
isolation.
Of course, Russia’s
position on Kosovo does seem to be inconsistent. At a Security Council meeting
on Kosovo on 18 February 2008, Ambassador Churkin for the Russian Federation
said: “The unilateral declaration of independence and its recognition are
incompatible with the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act, which clearly
specify the principles of inviolability of frontiers and territorial integrity
of States”
(Quotations of President Putin
come from a BBC translation.)
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