The U.S. determination to continue NATO’s progressive expansion towards the Russian Federation borders has brought about a scenario with implications of unpredictable scope, which could have been avoided.
United States’ and NATO’s military moves towards regions adjacent to the Russian Federation in recent months, preceded by the delivery of modern weapons to Ukraine, which together conform a military siege, are well known.
A rigorous and honest assessment of the current situation in Ukraine is not possible if the just claims of the Russian Federation to the United States and NATO and the factors that have led to the use of force and the non-observance of legal principles and international norms are not carefully assessed. Those principles and norms, fully subscribed and endorsed by Cuba, are an essential reference against hegemony, abuse of power and injustice, especially for small countries.
Cuba champions the International Law and is committed to the Charter of the United Nations. Cuba will always defend peace and oppose the use or threat to use force against any State.
We deeply regret the loss of innocent civilian lives in Ukraine. The Cuban people have had and continue to have a very close relationship with the Ukrainian people.
History will hold the United States accountable for the consequences of an increasingly offensive military doctrine outside NATO’s borders, which threatens international peace, security and stability.
Our concerns grow bigger after NATO’s recent decision to activate, for the first time, NATO Response Force.
Ignoring for decades the well-founded claims of the Russian Federation concerning security guarantees and assuming that Russia would remain defenseless in the face of a direct threat to its national security was a mistake. Russia has the right to defend itself. Peace cannot be achieved by sieging or cornering States.
The draft resolution on the situation of Ukraine not adopted in the Security Council on 25 February, which will be submitted to the General Assembly, was not intended as a genuine contribution to resolve the current crisis.
On the contrary, it is an unbalanced text, which does not take into account the legitimate concerns of all the parties involved. It does not acknowledge either the responsibility of those who instigated or deployed aggressive actions that hasten the escalation of this conflict.
We call for a serious, constructive and realistic diplomatic solution to the current crisis in Europe by peaceful means, ensuring the security and sovereignty of all, and regional and international peace, stability and security.
Cuba rejects hypocrisy and double standards. It should be recalled that in 1999 the United States and NATO launched a major aggression against Yugoslavia, a European country that was fragmented with a high cost in human lives in pursuit of geopolitical objectives, disregarding the UN Charter.
The United States and some allies have used force on many occasions. They have invaded sovereign states to bring about regime changes and interfere in the internal affairs of other nations that do not submit to their interests of domination and defend their territorial integrity and independence.
They are also responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, which they call “collateral damage”, millions of displaced persons and for the enormous destruction of the geography of our planet because of their plundering wars.
Havana, 26 February 2022
