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Thank you Mr. President and I thank the USG for Legal Affairs for their briefing.
The meeting represents another attempt by Russia to distract from its crimes in Ukraine and Iran and Russia’s failure to comply with its international obligations.
Russia and Iran have been caught red-handed violating Resolution 2231.
Russia is now arguing about the process because they cannot defend their actions. We have seen them many times before. It’s sad that this is now standard procedure for them.
Based on the substantial amount of evidence and open source reporting provided by Ukraine, our view is clear: Iran has supplied Russia with UAVs with which Russia is targeting Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure, and these UAVs fall under the list in Article B paragraph 4 of the UNSCR. 2231.
Given that no prior approval was sought or granted by the Security Council, this transfer represented a violation of Resolution 2231.
Unlike Russia, we are happy to test our position. We have therefore expressed support for an impartial, expert investigation by the UN Secretariat in line with its mandate under resolution 2231, so that the facts can be clearly established.
As Council members know and others have made clear today, the UN 2231 Secretariat has conducted several such investigations, most recently in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. This is therefore fully precedential and consistent with common practice.
Russia’s claim that we are trying to unduly influence the Secretariat is both absurd and hypocritical. It is Russia, trying to perpetuate its disinformation that has attacked first the Secretary-General and now the entire Secretariat, just to do their job.
And it is Russia that has threatened to end all cooperation with the UN if the Secretariat does not do as Russia wants.
It is not the behavior of a country that has nothing to hide. That is bullying behavior.
Comrades, what is Russia trying to do here today?
Russia is trying to make the UN’s ability to monitor implementation of a key non-proliferation resolution subject to a new lock on the Security Council in which Russia itself holds a veto.
Russia is again trying to abuse its seat on the council to shield itself from international scrutiny.
Further open source reporting suggests that Iran intends to transfer even more UAVs and, potentially, ballistic missiles to Russia. Any such transfer of items may constitute a further violation of Resolution 2231 and may represent a significant escalation.
By using Iranian drones to attack civilians, as part of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is violating the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions and committing war crimes. It is quite a hat-trick. These increasingly desperate attempts to distract us from these facts and undermine the system must be rejected.
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