77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
UN Security Council Meeting on Ukraine
Statement by the Republic of Estonia on behalf of the Baltic States – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
31 March 2023, New York
Mister President,
I am speaking on behalf of the Baltic States – Latvia, Lithuania and my own country Estonia. I thank the High Representative Izumi Nakamitsu for her briefing as well as the Presidency for the opportunity to address the Council.
Little more than a year ago Russia signed up to the joint P5 statement reaffirming that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’. Last week, Russia reaffirmed this in the joint statement with China and further committed to reduce the risk of nuclear war and ease tensions. Just a couple of days later, the masks were off again – Russia resorted again to a dangerous and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric by revealing its alleged plan to deploy nuclear weapons to Belarus.
This latest statement signals the desperation Moscow is facing in the battlefield while pursuing its unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine. Under the threat of nuclear escalation, the Kremlin is hoping to deter Ukraine from exercising its inherent right to self-defence. It hopes to intimidate countries from helping Ukraine.
Our response to Russia’s actions is clear and simple: the nuclear blackmail does not work. We will not be intimidated nor deterred. We will continue to support Ukraine as long as it takes; as long as Russia has withdrawn all of its forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders.
Mr President,
Russia’s statement proves once again how unreliable, untrustworthy and worthless are Russia’s commitments to their partners as well as to international community.
In 1994, Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in return to assurances given, inter alia, by Russia to respect the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine and to refrain from threat or use of force against its territorial integrity. Russia blatantly violated the Budapest Memorandum as well as the UN Charter by occupying Crimea in 2014.
Since then we have watched on how Russia has embarked on systematically undermining international arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation framework. It is time for the international community to recognize this destructive pattern of Russia and stand against it firmly.
The suspension of the new START Treaty is a recent example of Russia’s reckless behaviour to undermine nuclear stability. We urge Russia to revert this decision and abide by all of its commitments and to return to full compliance with the New START Treaty.
Mr President,
Belarus has been supporting Russia’s aggression against Ukraine since the full-scale invasion started in February 2022. We note with regret that Belarus, under the regime of Lukashenko is increasingly losing its sovereignty, and is more and more integrated into Russia’s military plans.
We urge Belarus to stop acting as an enabler to Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. We urge the Lukashenko regime to stop being accomplice to Russia’s desperate moves to threaten its neighbours and destabilise Europe.
We also urge and support the Belarusian democratic movement and civil society to continue standing up for a free, independent and democratic Belarus and prevent their country from becoming another victim of Russia’s imperial ambitions.
Mr President,
Isn’t it telling that tomorrow, on the anniversary of Bucha massacre, Russia will assume the Presidency of the UN Security Council? This is shameful, humiliating and dangerous to the credibility and effective functioning of this body. A country that fights a war of aggression against its neighbour, commits most horrendous atrocities, threatens the world with nuclear weapons, and whose leader is a war criminal with a standing arrest warrant from the ICC should have no place in leading a body that primary purpose is preserving international peace and security.
It is up to the responsible members of this body to counter Russia’s attempts to transform the primary venue of international diplomacy into a mockery and a platform of disinformation.
I thank you.
Photo: UN