Thank you very much, Madam President.
As our colleague stated, we have called for this meeting. And we called for this meeting because of what we have all witnessed over the course of the past few months in terms of the actions of the Russian Federation on the border with Ukraine. They indicate that it’s in their own territory, but it is also very close to their neighbor’s border. It’s a neighbor that has already been invaded before. It’s a neighbor that has Russian troops occupying their territory.
We have had numerous meetings; over a hundred meetings over the course of the past few weeks, both with Russian officials and consultations with our European and Ukrainian colleagues. All of these meetings have been in private. We think it’s now time to have a meeting in public and have this discussed in a public forum.
We have worked with the Ukrainians – at their request – to provide assistance to them so that they can prepare for what they see as inevitable, including having provided $200 million in assistance in recent weeks and over $5 billion in assistance since 2014, and that is so that they can be prepared.
You heard from our Russian colleagues that we’re calling for this meeting to make you feel uncomfortable. Imagine how uncomfortable you would be if you had 100,000 troops sitting on your border in the way that these troops are sitting on the border with Ukraine.
For us, this is about peace and security. It’s about honoring the UN Charter that calls upon us, as members of the Security Council, to protect peace and security. So, this is not about antics. It’s not about rhetoric. It’s not about “U.S. and Russia.” What this is about is the peace and security of one of our Member States.
Thank you very much, Madam President.
