Ukraine
US Secretary of State warns China’s proposed peace plan creates ‘false equivalence’ by asking both sides to stop fighting
Friday 24 February 2023 at 10.47pm GMT
The US has launched a fresh attempt to win over abstaining and neutral states, urging it not to be fooled by Russian calls for a temporary or unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine and warning that a Chinese-proposed ceasefire could peace plan exhibited a “false equivalence” by requiring both sides to stop fighting.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking at a highly charged UN Security Council session, reminded his fellow diplomats that just a year ago the Russian envoy rebuffed his warnings that Moscow was about to launch an invasion of Ukraine .
Year of war in Ukraine tests China’s ‘borderless’ relationship with Russia
Blinken spoke the day after more than 40 countries at the General Assembly refused to join 141 other nations in backing a motion calling for Russia to withdraw unconditionally from Ukraine. A bitter diplomatic battle is underway to convince many of these neutral states that abstaining or calling for peace at all costs is tantamount to approving the Russian invasion.
Amid renewed Chinese calls for a ceasefire, Blinken warned that Russia will use any lull in fighting to consolidate control of the territory and replenish its armed forces.
He urged: “Don’t fall for the false equivalence of asking both sides to stop fighting. No member of this council should call for peace while supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine and the UN Charter. In this war there is an aggressor and a victim.” Blinken added: “This war is about conquest. The fact remains that one man started this war, Vladimir Putin, and one man can end it.”
The foreign minister said he had “heard the concerns of countries that working with Ukraine diverts focus and resources to those in need in other countries.” But he said, “Look at our actions,” noting, “In addition to the $13.5 billion in food aid the US has provided to help fight food hunger, we also fund 40% of the budget of the UN World Food Program.” , Russia contributes less than 1% to this budget. This is not an outlier. The US donates nine times as much as Russia to UN peacekeeping, 390 times as much to Unicef and 1,000 times as much to the UN Refugee Agency.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who was given the right to speak at the start of the debate despite Russia’s objections, accused Putin of using Russia’s permanent seat on the Security Council as a “throne of impunity”.
He attacked China’s claim that the West was adding fuel to the fire by giving arms to Ukraine. He said: “Ukraine needs guns just like a firefighter needs water to put out a fire that is destroying your home and killing innocent people. The sooner and the more we get, the sooner the fire will be extinguished. Arming a country defending itself against aggression is perfectly legitimate and an act of defense of the UN Charter.”
Kuleba also portrayed Russia as a disruptive force, not just in Europe but globally. “The geography of Russia’s crimes against international peace and security extends far beyond Ukraine’s borders and reaches into Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Russia not only fuels conflicts, but also systematically obstructs UN Security Council decisions needed to resolve them.”
He argued: “Russia argued yesterday that this council is too focused on Ukraine and ignoring the problems of the rest of the world. Let’s all remember the truth. Russia is the problem of the world.”
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine are so high that when Kuleba called for a minute’s silence to commemorate the victims of the aggression, Russian envoy Vasily Nebenzya refused, saying instead he would stand up for all those who died in Ukraine since the conflict began were killed in 2014.
António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, also urged the doubters to accept that the war was about universal principles. He said: “The purposes and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter are not a matter of convenience. There are many words on paper, they are the core of who we are. And they reflect the driving mission of our United Nations. And they exist precisely to address any complaint, whatever it may be.”
Nebenzya denied any aim to destroy Ukraine, saying, “Russia just wants to restore a friendly neighbor who doesn’t want to revive Nazism or behave like a Russophobic hornet’s nest.”
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