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OSCE Chairman: Russian tactics "amount to state terrorism."


March 14, 2022

In a statement at the opening of a meeting of the United Nations Security Council today, Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office Zbigniew Rau of Poland said "Schools, hospitals and kindergartens are being targeted with internationally banned weapons" by Russian forces in an attempt "to break the spirit of the Ukrainian people." He called the tactics "deplorable and shameful," and said they "amount to state terrorism." "We will be judged by how we respond to these horrors," he said. "We cannot stay indifferent." He said unilateral Russian demands for security guarantees in talks with the OSCE had not been made in good faith, but said "The door of diplomacy is still open," and noted "The OSCE may evolve as a result of the current experience." UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had received "credible reports" that Russian forces have been using cluster munitions in indiscriminate attacks targeting civilians, and said "We must not allow any question of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders." Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of Russian Federation to the UN, said Under Secretary DiCarlo's statement "went beyond impartiality," and accused the US and the OSCE of sabotaging the Minsk agreements, signed in 2014-2015, which were designed to de-escalate tensions on Ukraine's eastern border. He said the west had "goaded" Ukraine "to conduct military provocations in Donbas." He repeated a characterization of the war in Ukraine as a continuation of the World War II conflict between the Russia Red Army and "those who fought on the side of Hitler's people." He said "The un-truths being bandied about by the Security Council is something we view as a deliberate provocation by our western colleagues," and declared the Russian bombing of a maternity and children's hospital in the city of Mariupol had been "faked." He accused Ukrainian forces of "actively preparing" a false-flag attack "in order to accuse Russia of using chemical weapons." Amid public speculation about coordination between Russia and China against Ukraine, Permanent Representative of China to the UN, Zhang Jun, said "The world does not need a new Cold War." He said "The Cold War mentality based on bloc confrontation should be completely rejected," and said the world must support Russia-Ukraine negotiations with OSCE support.





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