Mr. Chairperson,

The delegation of Ukraine warmly welcomes President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Mr. George Tsereteli back to the Permanent Council. We thank him for his comprehensive address and views on tackling, in a cooperative manner, the most pressing challenges in the OSCE region. These challenges are brought in particular by the ongoing clear, gross and uncorrected violation of the norms and principles of the Helsinki Final Act and the Paris Charter by one participating State, the Russian Federation.

Unlike inter-governmental part of our Organization in which Russia regularly misuses the rule of consensus, the OSCE PA enjoys the possibility to deliver clear political messages on unacceptability of such actions and on the urgent need to respect for and implementation of the OSCE principles and commitments. This brings necessary visibility and credibility to the work of our Organization.

Mr. President,

Through you, I wish to express Ukraine’s gratitude to the OSCE PA and its members for their strong and consistent support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in face of Russian military aggression in Donbas and unlawful attempted annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. As you rightly mentioned in your address to the 26^th OSCE Ministerial Council, this conflict, the most serious one since the end of the “Cold War”, put under threat European security. 

We appreciate regular visits to Ukraine of the members of the Assembly, especially delegations headed by you personally. Your most recent visit to Kyiv that took place in December became the sixth time that members of the OSCE PA have visited Ukraine in 2019. This only underlines the high priority the PA attaches to the peaceful resolution of Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Our assessment of the situation shows that readiness of the Russian Federation and the illegal armed groups it backs to fully implement the Minsk agreements will be crucial. The outcomes of the recent Normandy Four summit in Paris, which you discussed with Ukrainian authorities during your stay in Kyiv, only enhances our confidence of this fact.

We are grateful to the OSCE PA for continuing its work of promoting peace, security, common values and co-operation, underpinned by respect for the OSCE principles and commitments, in particular by adopting comprehensive and timely Declarations and Resolutions.

We regret that all of them, as well as calls of the participating States and other international fora aimed at restoring Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and making Russia return to the tenets of international law so far remain entirely ignored by the Russian side.

This doesn’t mean we should stop trying and keep silence on Russia’s illegal actions.

We see it highly important that the Parliamentary Assembly continues its efforts to seek full implementation of its Resolutions. These efforts would further strengthen the role of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in support for de-escalation on the ground and facilitation of peaceful resolution of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. We expect the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to be consistent in taking Russia to account by means of parliamentary diplomacy. In our view, these and other pressing problems require to be urgently addressed by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and its General Committees in a purposeful and effective manner, including at the upcoming Winter meeting in Vienna.

Mr. Chairperson,

Let me conclude by reiterating Ukraine’s commitment to continue open and constructive co-operation with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. We wish once again to thank the OSCE PA President for addressing the Permanent Council and express full support for the activities of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and its efforts of upholding respect for the Helsinki Final Act.

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.