Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, yesterday demanded before the UN Assembly “the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the entire Ukrainian territory” because “the aggression against Ukraine should not last even one more day,” and asked the support of “all members of the Assembly” for the “peace formula” of the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Tomorrow, February 24, it will be two years since the independence of the Ukrainian people was attacked, an attack that will fail in the face of the determination of a free people,” said the minister during his speech at the 56th plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly, held at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
“Two years of a cruel war that has exacted a terrible toll of pain and destruction, of broken families and lost lives, two years of a senseless war, because no ambition can be above peace and the lives of millions of human beings,” continued José Manuel Albares before the attendees, among whom was his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba.
According to Albares, the entire international community must get involved against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, because, “in the face of a war of aggression, silence takes sides, remaining silent goes against the victims.” “In this Assembly we could not be silent and our rejection of the war in Ukraine has been expressed in four resolutions approved by large majorities of more than 140 votes in favor and less than ten against,” he recalled.
“Accepting that one’s will can override the international order would send a very negative signal to the rest of the nations of the world, it would be the very denial of the principles of the United Nations Charter, we would resignedly assume the law of the strongest and lead to the world to a scenario with more and more violent conflicts,” he warned.
“For this reason, we reiterate our condemnation of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, we condemn the attacks against civilians, residential areas, hospitals, schools, as well as the criminal acts carried out against civilians,” he continued. “We will show those who have committed these crimes the path of the International Criminal Court (ICC), there can be no impunity,” he warned.
Likewise, Albares denounced that the Russian attacks on Ukraine “have also hit aid workers and humanitarian workers.” “Last year, an indiscriminate attack took the life of the Spanish Emma Igual, who was protecting others,” he recalled. “The perpetrators must answer to international justice for this and other atrocities,” he said.
“Thinking of them, thinking of the victims, Spain has increased its support for the International Criminal Court, we have increased our mandatory contribution to the Court up to 7.5 million euros annually, but we have also made increasing voluntary contributions,” he announced before the assembly. “Last year, within a package of contributions to the Court’s Prosecutor’s Office of six million euros, we allocated two million euros to create a victim assistance program,” he added.
The Foreign Minister also recalled “President Zelensky’s peace formula”, which “lays the foundations for peace” and, therefore, made “a call to all members of this Assembly to join this initiative that puts “an end to a situation that requires everyone’s commitment.”
“We demand the immediate withdrawal” of Russian troops “from the entire Ukrainian territory” because “the aggression against Ukraine should not last another day,” he said. “Today we are here in memory of that terrible February 24, we are here defending peace, defending the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and we will continue to stand by Ukraine until we meet again, in this Assembly, not to remember the first day of a cruel war but to celebrate its last day and the beginning of a just peace in a free Ukraine,” Albares concluded.
Maksim Kuzminov
In the subsequent press conference, Albares assured that the Government is following “very closely” the case of the Russian deserter Maksim Kuzminov, murdered on February 13 in the Alicante town of Villajoyosa, and there will be an “adequate response” when it is known. “the definitive conclusions of the investigation.” “Any murder in Spain has consequences” and, therefore, “the response will be commensurate with the acts that have been committed,” he assured.
The Civil Guard is investigating whether Kuzminov is the man who was found dead on February 13 with several gunshot wounds in a garage in Villajoyosa. The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, assured this Thursday that the Government had no evidence in Spain of the presence of the Russian deserter, whom a senior Russian Intelligence official described as a “traitor” after being informed of his death.
