Statement by Foreign Secretary at the UN Security Council
meeting on the maintenance of peace and security in
Ukraine.
President Zelenskyy, the UK commends you not only for standing up
for your people but for standing up for democracy.
Seeing you in Kyiv a few weeks ago with Secretary Blinken I saw
ordinary people from all walks of life. The soldiers and the
civilians. The firefighters and the first responders.
The mothers and the fathers working together in defence of
freedom. Your bravery and courage is an inspiration to us all.
But Mr. President, I also want to speak directly to the Kremlin
and its representative here today. And Vladimir Putin.
Russia sits on this Council. But its actions tear up the UN
Charter.
Russia sits on this Council. But over the weekend we saw it put
forward amendments designed to wreck the UN's future.
Russia claims to stand for the Global South. But it runs
roughshod over international law.
Vladimir Putin, when you fire missiles into Ukraine hospitals. We
know who you are.
When you send mercenaries into African countries. We know who you
are.
When you murder opponents in European cities. We know who you
are.
Your invasion is in your own interests. Yours alone. To expand
your mafia state into a mafia empire. An empire built on
corruption.
Robbing from the Russian people as well as Ukraine. An
empire built on crushing dissent. Courageous opponents like
Navalny.
An empire built on lies. Spreading disinformation at home and
abroad to sow disorder.
Mr President, I speak not only as a Briton, as a Londoner, and as
a Foreign Secretary.
But I say to the Russian representative, on his phone as I speak,
that I stand here also as a black man whose ancestors were taken
in chains from Africa, at the barrel of a gun to be enslaved,
whose ancestors rose up and fought in a great rebellion of the
enslaved.
Imperialism. I know it when I see it. And I will call it out for
what it is.
In this week, when I'm here talking to other partners around the
world about our shared futures, and the future of the UN, Russia
is trying to return us to a world of the past.
A world of imperialism. A world of redrawing borders by force. A
world without the UN Charter.
We cannot allow this to happen. Ukraine's fight matters to all of
us. The UK will remain Ukraine's staunchest supporter.
Because Mr. President these are the stakes.
If we let an imperialist redraw borders by force those will not
be the last borders to be redrawn.
If we let an imperialist deny a nation its path Ukraine will not
be the last state to be subjected. Maduro will take encouragement
and go for Guyana next.
So let me be clear. We want peace in Ukraine. We want it for the
Ukrainian people.
As President Zelenskyy has said, it must be a peace that respects
the fundamental principles that underpin the United Nations.
The principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, as
enshrined in this UN Charter. The Charter of the United
Nations. Putin's Russia wants to unravel it. We want to
uphold it. And we will.
As President Zelenskyy said, the UN Charter will prevail.
Slava Ukraini!
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