Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Namibia Valeriy Utkin (VU) recently fielded questions from New Era (NE) with regards to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.
New Era: It has become obvious that the current tensions between Russia and Ukraine have their roots deep in history. Could you please brief us on the main historical aspects of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, how it has reached a tipping point?
Ambassador Valeriy Utkin: Well, you are absolutely right that this all started much earlier, even before 2014, when the West orchestrated a bloody coup d’état in Ukraine. Diplomatic relations between Russia and Ukraine were established 30 years ago, on February 14, 1992, after the Soviet Union collapsed.
Unfor tunately, the close cooperation between our two countries has, over the past three last decades, shifted from vigorous interaction to a deep crisis. During the first two decades since 1992, Russia and Ukraine actively fostered bilateral cooperation and interacted in a spirit of good-neighbourliness.
We established border and custom controls, divided the Black Sea Fleet, and set out military-technical cooperation. In 1997, the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation has been signed. At that period of time, Russia and Ukraine actively developed trade and economic relations, which reached rather high figures in the 2000s.
The 2014 coup d’état in Kiev, carried out with backing of the West – mainly Washington – led to a change of government and created a tectonic shift in Russian- Ukrainian relations.
The new Ukrainian authorities abruptly changed their course towards Russia, labeled it as an “aggressor state” and embarked on an active anti-Russian policy at all levels.
The radical nationalists and neo-Nazis who seized power in Kiev following a government coup unleashed terror on the country. The very recollection of the tragedy in Odessa, on 2 May, 2014, makes us shiver. Peaceful demonstrators were burnt alive in the trade union building. Of course, Western media ignored those events.
For all these recent years, the Ukrainian regime has been carrying out an aggressive policy to get rid of everything Russian and promote forced assimilation. People who identify as Russian and would like to preserve their identity, language, and culture, are told in all clarity that they are not welcome in Ukraine.
Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky referred to them as “species” and suggested that they go to Russia. He initiated a law on indigenous people, where there was no place for Russians who have been living on these lands for centuries.
This is quite reminiscent of the laws Nazi Germany used to have. The Russian language is being purged from schools and universities, from the public space and even from everyday life. Once again, Western media preferred to ignore real facts.
The West began to turn a blind eye to what was happening back in February 2014. The putschists who came to power declared their intention of seeking alliance with the West and immediately launched an offensive against the Russian language, resolved to expel everything that is Russian from Crimea, and sent gunmen there.
The eastern regions of Ukraine that opposed the coup were accused of terrorism, although they had not attacked anyone. On the contrary, punitive battalions were used against them; their cities were bombed from the air and fired at from artillery and multiple launch rocket systems. They destroyed civilian sites, schools, and hospitals. They killed civilians.
An inhuman economic, transport and food blockade was imposed on Donbass. No wonder, Western media remained silent once again. The Kiev regime got away with all of that. International organisations, at best, were limited to impotently calling on “both sides.”
Clearly, in these circumstances, the people of Crimea and Donbass simply had no other choice. In March 2014, the vast majority of Crimeans, acting entirely in accordance with international law, supported the peninsula becoming part of Russia.
Exercising the right of peoples to self-determination that is enshrined in the UN Charter allowed them to defend their right to life and to freely use their native language, their traditions, their history and culture. Kiev retaliated by blocking the North Crimean Canal, which is the main source of fresh water for Crimeans. Again, no one said a word in response, despite the five international conventions that enshrine the right to safe drinking water.
Recently, the Ukrainian regime’s criminal actions went into overdrive.
As a result, since mid-February alone, more than 100 000 refugees from Donbass have found shelter in Russia.
Ignor i ng int e rnat i ona l agreements and treaties, starting from April 2014, the Ukrainian security forces have permanently opened heavy fire on settlements in Donbass which caused casualties and injuries among thousands of civilians not involved in the military conflict. Ukraine used lethal weapons with indiscriminate effect that are banned by international humanitarian law.
These are weapons designed to kill people and destroy infrastructure as efficiently as possible. Many settlements, primarily those located close to the contact line, were left without water, gas and electricity, the mobile telecommunication services were interrupted, access to food and medicine was cut off. People were killed by artillery shells fired by the Ukrainian army, died from famine, lack of water and medicine.
With sheer cynicism, the Ukrainian military forces were shelling hospitals, morgues and schools modified as bomb shelters.
In these years, about 15,000 civilians, including women and children, were killed in Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Cemeteries were also shelled. This led to spontaneously formed mass graves of civilians who fell victim of Ukraine’s military and political regime and its Western curators. As of December 2021, there were found more than 16 such graves, both mass and single. One of the single burials contained the remains of a four-month baby.
Al toge the r, 295 human remains were removed from graves, analysed and officially registered between August and November 2021. The first forensic examination of the remains found in all the graves in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) showed that most of the dead were women and elderly men who died from firearm and mine blast injuries and blunt-force traumas.
In the face of gross violation of the rights of Russian and Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine, an eight-year war against them that bears every sign of genocide, the stubborn refusal of the West to get the Ukrainian authorities to fall in line and the absence of any response from UN human rights bodies, the OSCE or the Council of Europe, Russia could not remain indifferent to the fate of Donbass and its 4 million people.
President Vladimir Putin resolved to recognise the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and, at the urging of the leaders of the DPR and LPR, to launch a special military operation to protect their residents in accordance with the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with these republics.
NE: What are the tasks of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, why has it turned out according to Russian authorities as inevitable?
VU: By February 2022, Russian intelligence service has had a wide range of proofs that the Ukrainian regime was preparing a large-scale punitive military operation against the inhabitants of Donbass. Later, during the special military operation, classified documents of the command of the National Guard of Ukraine were acquired by Russian servicemen, confirming the covert preparation by the Kiev regime of an offensive operation in the Donbass in March 2022.
It all could lead to hundreds of thousands of victims among the civilian population, including among Russian citizens who have long and permanently lived in these territories. In accordance with Article 51 of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter and based on the consent of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Russian President decided to launch a special military operation.
I would like to emphasize that Russia’s special military operation does not seek to occupy Ukraine or inflict damage on the local population.
Demilitarization of Ukraine which is packed with NATO weapons, is aimed at protecting the long-suffering people of Donbass and Ukraine.
More than that, the Russian special operation does not impact critical civil infrastructure.
Over the days of this operation, there have been no recorded cases of deliberate devastation. By the same token, there is no evidence of civilians dying through the fault of Russian military.
Russian troops attack only military installations.
Russian military pose no threat to Ukraine’s peaceful citizens, they do not fire at peaceful facilities. Cities that are controlled by Russian Armed Forces live normally: critical infrastructure and transit keep working, public order is maintained by joint efforts with local administrations. Same can be said about the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), where joint patrols of Russian Armed Forces and special units of Ukrainian police are taking place.
Another thing that threatens the people of Ukraine is uncontrolled distribution of weapons by radicals and the authorities to all those who are ready to have them.
Those guns already shoot in the hands of burglars and plunderers. And as if that wasn’t enough, convicts were released from prisons on orders of the authorities. Those are people who committed felonies: murders, violent crimes, etc.
Unfortunately, the information space is currently swarming with fake and malicious propaganda that try to make Russia responsible for what Ukraine is doing itself. That blatant lie is being shamelessly replicated by Western media.
NE: Unprecedented sanctions’ pressure is being exerted on the Russian Federation due to the recent events. How well will Russia manage against this economic pressure? Did Russia prepare for this in advance?
VU: Unfortunately, the European Union has decided to support the illegitimate US practice of imposing unilateral restrictive measures on Russia. Instead of analysing what happened and critically re-evaluating their role in the situation in the DPR and LPR, the West has resorted to the sanctions approach mistakenly believing that they are an effective way forward.
Answering your question, I can tell you that we are capable of standing against any pressure, and if you have doubts about that, study history – of Russia, of the Russian Empire, of the Soviet Union. And pay close attention to those episodes in our history when we were invaded by enemy armies.
We saw how angrily and aggressively the West was promoting its ideas of stopping Russia’s influence. These countries consistently supported the Nazi government of Ukraine, trying to leverage it against Russia.
So, of course, we saw all that and were preparing for a situation when we had to completely rely on ourselves.
But we have friends and allies, we have numerous partners in the international arena that, unlike Europe and some other countries, didn’t lose their independence and ability to put their national interests first. They are also under colossal pressure. We know that the Americans are now running all over the world through their ambassadors, forcing countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia to do something against Russia. This should be beneath a great power like the USA. There is no dignity in such behavior. But we are used to it. You know we’ve seen this before – when partners used shady tactics and methods. We will manage.
In this context, I would like to pay your attention to the following. We have noted several articles published by the Namibian newspapers on the issue of economic consequences by the so-called “Russian invasion in Ukraine” on international oil markets, to be more exact that “the war in Ukraine” has posed a threat to national economies. It has been stated that fuel prices increased in different countries, especially in Namibia. I can say with complete confidence that Russia has nothing to do with the current price spike and volatility in the market.
No doubt, that all of this has happened first and foremost due to a severe sanctions policy by western countries, due to their blockade of Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, due to the statements of European and US officials regarding a possible embargo on Russian oil and petrochemicals, on phasing them out, but not because of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, as journalists explained it. So, irresponsible and irrational steps by the West in the sphere of economy is the real cause.
NE: The European Union supplies weapons to Ukraine. Do you consider this an act of war? Do you think there is a risk of sliding into a nuclear war?
VU: It is not us who started the talk about a nuclear war. Conversations to this effect were started by the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, who urged President of Russia Vladimir Putin to keep in mind that France also had nuclear weapons, and by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, and by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who said that, if necessary, they would deploy nuclear weapons even closer to the Russian Federation.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss went on record as saying that she was ready for a war between NATO and Russia. This is the talk you are trying to use in a bid to accuse us of all this.
It is probably needed to keep the public in the West on tenterhooks, to continue fanning Russophobia until any Russian becomes a target for aggression. Students are expelled, performers are not allowed to perform, and athletes see their wings cut.
Among other things, this is a case of dishonest, dirty rivalry to make things easier in sports, arts, and other areas of human activity. This is really obscene.
NE: What are the chances that this conflict will be settled through political means? What concessions could Russia make? Moscow has said numerous times that it wants Crimea to be recognised as part of Russia. What else?
VU: Crimea is something that we are not even going to discuss. The president clearly explained our position, and that was what our delegation brought to the talks with Ukraine in Belarus.
Recognising the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in the administrative borders of the regions, and demilitarisation. The specific parameters have to be discussed separately. But there should be no weapons in Ukraine that would be a threat to Russia’s security. And denazification – this is something like that was done in Nazi Germany.
You can easily find videos that show neo-Nazis in Ukraine and the freedom they enjoy. They hold their marches with portraits of war criminals, and President Zelensky sends his soldiers as guard of honour. There is still much to be done.
We’re doing everything in our power to prevent heavy casualties among civilians. In the course of this operation, Russian troops and the DPR and LPR forces are using high-precision weapons, targeting and destroying only the military infrastructure of Ukraine in order to ensure demilitarisation and eliminate these all-too-tangible threats.
These threats have become much too massive. We see an information war going on as well. I would even call it information terrorism, with millions of fakes appearing constantly. We expose them all the time. On the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Defense official websites, we have a special section where we publish only accurate information based on facts (www.mid.ru/en and www. eng.mil.ru).
NE: Could you please comment on the issue of military biological activity in Ukrainian biological laboratories?
VU: We can confirm that, during the special military operation in Ukraine, the Kiev regime was found to have been concealing traces of a military biological programme implemented with funding from the United States Department of Defence.
Documentation on the urgent eradication of highly hazardous pathogens of plague, anthrax, rabbit-fever, cholera and other lethal diseases on 24 February was received from employees of Ukrainian biolaboratories. This included an instruction from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on the urgent eradication of stored reserves of highly hazardous pathogens sent to all biolaboratories.
These materials can be found on the internet portal of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.
This documentation is now being thoroughly analysed by specialists of nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops.
However, even at this point, we can conclude that components of biological weapons were being developed in Ukrainian laboratories in direct proximity to Russian territory. The urgent eradication of highly hazardous pathogens on February 24 was ordered to prevent exposing a violation of Article I of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) by Ukraine and the United States.
This information proves that the claims we have repeatedly made with regard to the military biological activity of the United States and their allies in the post- Soviet space within the framework of the BTWC were justified.
NE: Thank you, Ambassador.
VU: Thank you.