This year the session of the General
Assembly is opening at a time when international
relations are in a state of turbulence. The Middle East
and North Africa have gone through a period of large-
scale changes, and the situation is volatile in certain
other parts of the world. We have not yet been able to
put the global economy back on the track of
progressive sustainable development. The increasing
number of alarming factors has been accompanied by
an exacerbation of social, inter-ethnic and intercultural
conflicts as well as outbreaks of extremism.
Just as a ship caught in adverse weather
conditions needs a united crew and a compass to find
the right course, the international community today
needs in particular to deploy joint efforts to respond to
common challenges and set clear guidelines to
strengthen global governance mechanisms. We are
convinced that such guidelines should include, first and
foremost, the rule of international law; clear, strict and
responsible reliance on the fundamental principles of
the Charter of the United Nations; and the will to
implement a positive unification agenda.
The United Nations remains a pillar of
international relations and equitable multilateral
cooperation in the interests of all States. It has a unique
legitimacy and the necessary authority to respond
adequately to the variety of contemporary risks and
threats. It is the United Nations that should continue to
provide political, legal and moral leadership in dealing
with global challenges, to establish equitable principles
and standards of interaction, to monitor their
implementation and to render necessary assistance and
support for the States that need it.
Ten years ago on September 11, a horrible
terrorist attack was committed in this city. We are
convinced that it is necessary to strengthen multilateral
cooperation in countering international terrorism on
both the global and regional levels. However, the
additional mechanisms to be created in this area should
be incorporated in our common work within the United
Nations, with due account taken of its central
coordinating role in combating terrorism.
Wide international cooperation is needed to keep
the situation in the global economic and financial
system under control. One can hardly deny the
importance of the role that the Group of Twenty (G-20)
plays in the post-crisis recovery of the world economy.
Today, it is important to finalize the process of
reforming the global financial and economic
architecture and to implement everything we have
agreed on, rather than to stop halfway. The efficiency
of these efforts will only grow if the G-20 strengthens
its dialogue with the United Nations and its specialized
agencies.
A significant contribution to the reform of the
global economy and finance is being made by
BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa — a global-scale association of five major,
rapidly growing economies that reflects the realities of
the evolving multipolar world. BRICS does not aim at
confrontation with anyone. Its goal is to enhance
productive multilateral collaboration to address the
urgent problems of the contemporary world.
Sustainable development requires a reliable
supply of energy resources for the global economy.
Russia has proposed drafting a convention on
international energy security that would cover all
aspects of global energy cooperation, taking into
account the balance of interests of all actors in the
international market. We call for the start of the
practical preparation of this document.
As in economics, the logic of joint consolidated
actions should prevail in matters of security and the
elimination of surplus weapons worldwide. Russia and
the United States made another important step towards
nuclear disarmament when they signed the Treaty on
Strategic Offensive Arms and began its
implementation. Its practical realization will allow us
to make sure that the Treaty is effective and viable and
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to see how its fundamental principles are implemented.
We call on all States with nuclear weapons capability
to join the Russian-American efforts. We believe that
further progress in nuclear arms reductions is possible
only on a multilateral basis.
Moreover, progress in this area is inseparable
from coordinated efforts to move forward on all
aspects of strengthening international security and
strategic stability. This includes development of
universally acceptable approaches to missile defence
issues, an accounting on the impact of strategic
conventional arms, prevention of the weaponization of
space and elimination of qualitative and quantitative
imbalances in conventional arms.
The deployment of strategic missile defence
elements in various parts of the world alters the overall
configuration of international security. It is not enough
to make statements that the increase in global missile
defence capabilities would not undermine the basics of
strategic stability. The issue is far too serious. We need
solid legal guarantees that missile defence potential
will actually be adequate to the declared objectives and
will not disrupt global and regional balances. This
holds equally true for both Europe and the Asia-Pacific
region, where the missile defence factor is beginning to
affect the strategic environment.
It is of primary importance for us to prevent the
undermining of the non-proliferation regime. We call
for universalization of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons, strengthening of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards system and
the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-
Test-Ban Treaty. Russia has been one of the main
initiators of the proposal to convene in 2012 a
conference on establishing a zone free of weapons of
mass destruction and their means of delivery in the
Middle East and is now working intensively, together
with its partners, on the preparations for this important
forum.
The early resolution of the nuclear problems of
Iran and the Korean Peninsula would contribute to the
strengthening of the non-proliferation regime. We see
no alternative to their political and diplomatic
settlement and to taking concrete steps to create the
conditions for the resumption of negotiations. We call
on all partners to address these tasks with utmost
responsibility.
The situation around Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi-1
nuclear power plant has highlighted the need to
improve the international legal framework in order to
ensure the safety of nuclear power facilities. The
Russian Federation has made proposals to enhance the
mechanisms of the Convention on Nuclear Safety and
the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear
Accident and to strengthen the relevant IAEA norms.
We urge support for these initiatives.
In the age of new telecommunications
technologies, international information security has
become a challenge that requires coordinated efforts by
the international community. Reliable protection of the
field of information from malicious and criminal
attacks is the goal of the initiative that Russia and its
partners are promoting at the United Nations. During
this session, we will put forward proposals on
developing specific rules of conduct in this area.
In a polycentric world, an effective international
architecture can be created only if it rests on regional
building blocks. The enhancing of global governance at
the regional level and the increasing role of regional
organizations are an integral part of modern
international relations. Integration associations and
organizations in the Commonwealth of Independent
States area contribute to these processes. The Eurasian
Economic Community, with its $10 billion anti-crisis
fund, operates in the financial and economic sphere. A
customs union between Russia, Kazakhstan and
Belarus has been created, and single economic space is
taking shape with a view to establishing a Eurasian
union.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) is a key tool for ensuring stability within the
area of its responsibility. The signing of the joint
declaration on cooperation between the United Nations
Secretariat and the CSTO secretariat in March 2011
was a major step in the collaboration between these
two organizations, primarily in the field of
peacekeeping. We are ready to start working on its
practical modalities. Russia consistently calls for
interaction between regional organizations, under the
auspices of the United Nations, to strengthen global
stability on the basis of the solid legal framework of
the Charter.
Priority should be given to equal and indivisible
security, predictability, transparency and mutual
respect, taking into account one other’s interests. This
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is exactly the aim of Russian President Medvedev’s
initiative to sign a treaty on European security. Its
practical implementation would allow us to finally put
a period to the post-cold war era, to establish a
universal and clear framework for a reliable solution to
such issues as missile defence and arms control, and to
create a common space of security and development
without dividing lines.
Achieving equal and indivisible security is an
urgent issue for the Asia-Pacific region, with the
Russian Far East and Eastern Siberia as integral parts.
The joint initiative launched by the leaders of China
and Russia in September 2010 is aimed at creating a
comprehensive architecture for security and
cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region on a bloc-free
legal basis. We could move closer to this goal by
promoting a network of multilateral diplomacy, an idea
that has been supported by the members of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Progress in the settlement of regional conflicts
would contribute to a more stable international
environment. Today, special attention is given to the
developments in the Arab world.
Russia condemns the use of violence against
civilians and supports the aspirations of Arab peoples
for the revival of their States and their democratic
development and social and economic prosperity. At
the same time, actions by the outside forces must be
based on full respect for international law and be
instrumental to the search for a political settlement
between the authorities and the opposition. The
attempts to go beyond the Security Council mandate
are unacceptable, since they undermine its authority
and compound the suffering of innocent civilians.
In this context, it seems quite pertinent that States
and regional organizations commit themselves to
strictly complying with the existing norms of
international law, including humanitarian law, in order
to protect civilians during armed conflict. This step,
which further enhances the existing legal basis of
international relations, would contribute to the
strengthening of regional and global security in its
modern, multidimensional interpretation.
The leading role in elaborating modalities for
post-conflict resolution in Libya must be played by the
United Nations and in particular the Security Council.
That is precisely the goal of Security Council
resolution 2009 (2011) of 16 September 2011, which
established the United Nations Support Mission in
Libya. We believe that it is time to take additional
steps, including the lifting of the no-fly zone.
As for Syria, it is inadmissible to boycott
proposals for a national dialogue, stir up confrontation
and provoke violence, while neglecting the reforms —
late in coming, but still achievable — proposed by
President Al-Assad. It is important to encourage the
authorities and the opposition to start negotiations and
agree on the future of their country. We hope that the
League of Arab States will make the necessary efforts.
The situation in the Middle East could be
significantly improved by progress in the negotiation
process, on the basis of the main parameters defined
and recorded in Security Council resolutions, the
Madrid terms of reference and the Arab Peace
Initiative, and reiterated in the Quartet ministerial
statement of 23 September. The only viable basis for a
settlement is the coexistence of Palestinian and Israeli
States in peace and security. We support the
Palestinians’ application to the Security Council and
welcome the readiness reiterated by the President of
the Palestinian National Authority, Mr. Abbas, to hold
talks with Israel on the basis of the existing
international legal framework.
We encourage the Cypriot communities to
continue negotiations under United Nations auspices to
achieve a comprehensive, just and viable settlement on
the basis of the relevant Security Council resolutions.
We call upon all parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement process to take advantage of the additional
opportunities arising from the efforts made in the
context of Russia’s mediation. We will promote
confidence-building and ceasefire enforcement
measures within the framework of the Troika of the
co-Chairs of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe Minsk Group, together with
American and French partners.
We hope that the decision taken in Moscow on
22 September on resuming official talks on a
Transdniestrian settlement will encourage the parties to
seek ways to arrive at mutually acceptable agreements.
We are strongly committed to doing our utmost to
prevent a repetition of a scenario involving the use of
force in the Caucasus, as happened in August 2008 as a
result of a reckless venture by the ruling regime in
Tbilisi. Russia is ready to act as a guarantor of
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arrangements on the non-use of force between
Abkhazia, Georgia, and South Ossetia, taking into
account the earlier relevant statements made by the
leaders of these three parties. We would welcome it if
the United States and the European Union made similar
commitments. As guarantors, we would be ready to
take steps to prevent the resumption of violence in the
region and, in the case of the wrongful use of force by
either side, to work towards an early resolution of the
situation on the basis of the existing norms of
international law.
Russia is providing significant support for the
efforts to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan. At the
same time, we call on the International Security
Assistance Force to more effectively fight the growing
Afghan drug threat. Central Asia and Russia are
already facing a “heroin aggression”, while the profits
from drug trafficking are being used as the main source
of financing the clandestine extremist underground in
the region. The fight against this evil should be
uncompromising, and it should target the entire drug
business chain.
The problems on the African continent should be
a focus of continuous attention on the part of the
United Nations. Such attention should include
development assistance as well as efforts to overcome
the current humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa
and resolve the numerous ongoing conflicts, while
maintaining the leading role of the African Union.
The eradication of piracy remains a priority. It is
necessary to accelerate the establishment of an
international anti-piracy court mechanism in the
region, in accordance with the Security Council
resolution adopted on the initiative of Russia.
Experience has shown that pressure and unilateral
sanctions cannot be a cure-all in addressing various
conflict situations; they only complicate efforts to
resolve them. We urge that an end be put to any actions
that circumvent the Security Council. We also call for
the lifting of the blockade of Cuba. Cooperation rather
than isolation should be the method for settling
conflicts in the twenty-first century.
The ongoing transformation in contemporary
international relations makes it a priority task on the
global agenda to expand intercultural, interreligious
and inter-civilization dialogue in order to devise
approaches to the problems of the modern world that
are based on shared values. The degradation of
fundamental moral values leads to the degradation of
society. The recent tragic events in Norway, riots in
Great Britain, protests by young people in other
countries, and calls to suppress Christian minorities in
the Middle East and North Africa — all of those events
are the result of a deterioration in moral and ethical
values. There can be no freedom without responsibility
and no democracy without self-restraint. There is a
clear and urgent need to counter the threats posed by
nationalism, ethnic and religious intolerance. We
therefore reiterate the importance of the recent High-
level Meeting of the General Assembly to
commemorate the tenth anniversary of the adoption of
the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and
related intolerance.
Attempts to falsify or revise history are
inadmissible, all the more so given that we are marking
the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Nuremberg Tribunal
verdict. Political correctness and talk of freedom of
speech cannot serve as a cover when, in certain
European countries, people who brought disgrace upon
themselves by cooperating with the Nazis are being
talked and written about in an increasingly elevated
tone. Russia will never forget the countless military
crimes committed by Hitler and his associates in our
land and throughout Europe during the years of the
Nazi aggression.
The rapid changes taking place in the world make
it imperative to strengthen the role of the United
Nations and to adapt it to contemporary realities while
preserving — naturally — its inter-State character and
the immutability of its Charter principles. A
fundamental element of the Organization’s renewal is
the reform of the Security Council. We support a
solution that is based upon the broadest possible
agreement.
The world community faces many challenges,
and the United Nations, as a major mechanism for
global regulation, is today in demand as never before.
Together we will find practical ways to effectively
overcome the threats of the twenty-first century.