First, the conflict that has occupied so much of our time over the last year-and-a-half is not an internal conflict in Ukraine. Everybody knows that. Even our distinguished Russian colleague, I would venture, knows that.
And we are very grateful to the president of France and the chancellor of Germany for sitting last Friday once again with the two participating States who are directly involved in this conflict. Russia, as a signatory to the Minsk agreements, has responsibilities under those agreements.
The second point I’d like to make is that while our distinguished Russian colleague is very fond of citing the Package of Measures, which indeed is one of the Minsk agreements, it’s important to note that both the Package of Measures, as well as the correlative UNSCR that is often also cited, reference the Minsk agreements. It is a package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements, that is, the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum of last September, which the Russian Federation signed.
Third, in response to the question from our distinguished Russian colleague, I can only say – I’m happy to provide more information as I get it – but what I can say at this point is that United States Congress has, since the beginning of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, repeatedly authorized the expenditure of resources in order to help support the people of Ukraine as they defend their European choice against Russian aggression. The administration has on a continual basis sought to identify the way that we can be most effective, given the situation on the ground, in supporting Ukraine in defending its European choice. It is true that in the last two weeks we announced that we will be delivering two new counter-battery radar systems, which will help protect the people and the armed forces of Ukraine from incoming attacks.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
As delivered by Ambassador Daniel B. Baer to the OSCE Permanent Council, Vienna
