THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
official site

The UN has historically proven its effectiveness in developing and using politico-diplomatic tools for conflict resolution in the world. This major sector of work is becoming ever more relevant owing to an expanding geography of crisis and conflict. The significance of coordination of peacekeeping efforts between the UN and regional and subregional organizations while observing the Charter prerogatives of the UN Security Council has grown.

Russia has consistently advocated preserving the central role of the UN in collective efforts to maintain international peace and security, to counter the new challenges and threats and to prevent the coalescence of terrorism with WMD. To achieve this aim it is important to concentrate efforts on strengthening the multilateral elements in arms control, disarmament and WMD nonproliferation, seeking to ensure strict fulfillment of existing, and the elaboration of new international legal agreements. We believe that the search for adequate answers to the new international security challenges and threats in no way detracts from the significance of the observance of previous obligations in this sphere.

Our country places high importance on UN activities aimed at establishing a world order predicated on the rule of law. In the spirit of this attitude we shall continue to advocate strengthening the rule of law in international relations, based on strict observance of the international legal principles and norms set forth, in particular, in the Charter of the United Nations.

We are convinced that UN reform is indispensable. At the same time we hold that reforms are not an aim in itself. Their task is to ensure raising the Organization’s effectiveness. Transformation decisions must be taken solely on a platform of the broadest consensus among member states.

We regard the setting up of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), which is carrying out substantive work on country dossiers (Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, CAR), as an important achievement in the sphere of the reformation of the United Nations. The activities of the Commission bear out the fact that this body has considerable practical potential and is capable of becoming an effective international mechanism in this sphere. At the same time the PBC should regularize its procedure for the inclusion, approval and exclusion of agenda items.

It is our belief that the reform of the UN Security Council, aimed at raising the effectiveness of this body through its limited enlargement, meets the world’s interests. But we have to state that there is still a wide divergence of opinion on Security Council enlargement among the UN member states. For us the key guideline remains the task of imparting to the Council a more representative character, but not to the detriment of this body’s capacity for work. Overall, we believe that as there is no agreement between supporters of different schemes for the Council’s enlargement, the “interim model” (calling for an enlargement only in the category of nonpermanent membership that has a longer term and which allows members to run for re-election) or its possible variations can move the debate on Council reform off dead center.

The growing need for UN peacekeeping and the steadily widening range of tasks in PK operations make this a principal work area of the Organization. Today, PK operations involve a record number of personnel (110,000) and the peacekeeping budget amounts to about seven billion dollars. Yet we are concerned that the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations’ last session was regrettably marked by an unprecedented level of confrontation between major groups of states (EU and NAM), on minor issues at that, which prevented agreement on a report to the General Assembly for a long time.

The new quality of UN peacekeeping requires greater military expertise when adopting appropriate Security Council decisions. In this connection we advocate for the reinvigoration of an auxiliary body of the Council envisaged by the UN Charter – the Military Staff Committee (MSC). Our proposal consists in that a renewed MSC should be working in a format envisaging participation of all Security Council members.

We are opposed to politicizing the “frozen conflicts” issue and involving the UN General Assembly for this purpose. In this context we hold that the promotion by GUAM member states during the 62nd UNGA session of the relevant draft resolution only whipped up emotions, antagonized the positions of the sides and made prospects of a comprehensive settlement of the conflicts more remote. The search for mutually acceptable solutions must continue to be conducted with the use of the negotiation and peacekeeping mechanisms that have proven their effectiveness.

In view of the new political realities in the South Caucasus region resulting from Georgia’s aggression against South Ossetia, Russia advocates seriously adjusting the mandate of a UN Mission that is due to replace the UN Observer Mission in Georgia. Without everybody’s scrupulous fulfillment of the agreements reached by the presidents of Russia and France, to create a climate of security and trust in relations between the concerned parties will be obviously impossible.

Despite the security and stability successes in Iraq, as well as the strengthened position of the country’s security forces and their greater efficiency, Russia continues to be concerned about the lingering elements of tension that manifest themselves in periodic fresh outbreaks of violence.

In this connection the international community should render all assistance to the people of Iraq in rebuilding a peaceful life, in ensuring an ethnic and faith balance and in rehabilitating the economy and infrastructure of the country.

A leading role in these processes should be played by the United Nations and the Security Council as one of its key bodies for the maintenance of international peace and security. In 2009 the Council will begin a review of the resolutions adopted by it over the last 18 years in relation to the Iraq-Kuwait crisis, to consider steps to be taken, including by Iraq, to return the country to the international status that existed before August 1990. Russia intends to take an active part in this process.

The unilateral declaration of independence has not helped to solve the key problems of Kosovo. Tension lingers on in the province.

Russia advocates for stepping up efforts by the international community, aimed at continuing the search for a compromise Kosovo solution that will provide, inter alia, rights-and-security guarantees for national minorities pursuant to Security Council resolution 1244, with the UN playing a leading role.

In this connection, in June 2008, we perceived as going beyond the UN Secretary General’s prerogatives his decision to reconfigure the UN Mission in Kosovo and transfer major competences regarding external assistance to the settlement process there to the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX), and called for continued consultation with all the concerned parties, primarily Belgrade, on the parameters for the UN presence in Kosovo.

In November 2008 the Secretary General informed the Security Council of the agreement that he had reached with Serbia on the practical activities of UNMIK and on the parameters for its cooperation with EULEX. The Serbian authorities, for their part, asked Council members to support the Secretary General’s report, which fixed that agreement.

Proceeding from this, Russia, following its principled line, aligned itself with the Presidential statement, adopted at the end of the Council meeting, which, in particular, welcomed the Secretary General’s report on cooperation between the UN and regional organizations in the framework of UNSCR 1244.

This Council decision in no way dealt with the province’s status. In turn, the UN General Assembly in October at Serbia’s initiative adopted a special resolution requesting for an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on whether the unilateral declaration of Kosovo’s independence conforms to the norms of international law. Russia supported this document.

Russia is seriously concerned by the worsening security situation in Afghanistan and by the growing number of civilian casualties as a consequence of mistaken actions by foreign military presences. National reconciliation in Afghanistan must be promoted with the strict observance of the country’s Constitution and the anti-Taliban sanctions regime imposed by UNSCR 1267. Only persons who have not sullied themselves with war crimes may return to participation in peaceful life. Any attempts at flirting with extremists and their gradual empowering are merely fraught with further destabilization.

Russia welcomes progress during the latest rounds of intercommunal talks, and advocates achieving a just, comprehensive and viable solution to the Cyprus problem that envisages the creation of a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with the political equality of the Greek and Turkish communities and on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions. It is important that new UN efforts in Cyprus affairs should help the Cypriot communities with the settlement process, be impartial and objective and conform to the mandate of the UN Secretary General’s Good Offices Mission with no arbitration, ready-made recipes or artificial timetables.

We advocate for shaping a comprehensive approach to conflict settlement and prevention, strengthening democracy and ensuring sustainable economic and social development in Africa.

We welcome the striving of African countries to raise the effectiveness of their peacekeeping potential, including work on the establishment of the African Standby Force.

We champion close cooperation by the UN with the African Union in elaborating concerted approaches to resolving conflict situations in the region and we welcome both the constructive dialogue and broader partner relations between the UN, and the AU and leading African subregional organizations.

Russia actively participates in the elaboration and implementation of measures for the settlement of crises in Africa and takes part in most UN peacekeeping operations on the contingent.

Piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia pose a serious threat to the lives of seamen and ship passengers and to the safety of navigation. The Russian Federation took the most active part in the elaboration of the “anti-piracy” resolutions of the UN Security Council to reinforce the international legal basis of combating piracy and to authorize countries to conduct operations against armed robbery in the territorial sea of Somalia and on land. The Russian Navy has actively joined international counter-piracy efforts. We plan to maintain our naval presence in the region, acting in strict conformity with international law and the decisions of the UN Security Council.

We regard sanctions as one of the important tools in achieving a politico-diplomatic resolution of conflict situations. At the same time this tool should be used with extreme caution. Sanction measures should not go beyond the scope of the relevant Security Council resolutions and allow a broad and arbitrary juridical interpretation. UN Security Council decisions imposing sanctions must provide for humanitarian exemptions to the sanctions regime, time limitations on the measures proposed and the criteria for their lifting. Already in the stage of elaboration of an embargo mechanism consideration should be given to the humanitarian consequences of the sanctions both for the population of the state against which they are being imposed and for the countries adjacent to it.

In the current year UN activities in the socioeconomic sphere took place against the background of a deepening global economic and financial crisis. In this connection as never before a sharp debate raged at the sessions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and during the 63rd UN General Assembly session around the issues of eliminating the consequences of the financial crisis, ensuring food and energy security and, of course, achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – primarily through the prism of mobilization of necessary financing in the conditions of an increasing recession of the world economy.

The chief event of the year in the UN on the economic front was undoubtedly the International Conference on Financing for Development (Doha, Qatar, November 29 – December 2, 2008). During its course Russia along with other developed countries reaffirmed the pledges to provide aid to developing countries, which is regarded as an important factor of countering the spread of the global financial crisis to the sphere of development financing. Actions were agreed to mobilize internal and external resources of both countries and international organizations for ongoing progress towards attaining the MDGs. We shall note that Russia’s aid to poorest countries in 2007 amounted to more than 210 million dollars, and the volume of that aid will increase to 400-500 million dollars in the coming years. This enhances the prestige of our state in the world and allows it to fill necessary niches in markets of developing countries.

This year the UN adopted principled decisions to holding major global forums on the most pressing issues of development, including the UN Conference at the highest level to examine the impact of the world financial and economic crisis on development, UN High-Level Conference on South-South Cooperation, the Fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries, the UN General Assembly High-Level Dialogue on International Migration, and others.

In terms of bolstering regional economic interaction with European and Asian countries Russia continued to actively participate in the activities of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) and UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). In order to increase the practical results of ECE activities Russia’s first earmarked voluntary contribution of 1.2 million dollars was made to this Commission in 2008; an analogous contribution to ESCAP in 2009-2010 is being considered. All this money will go to projects which will help bolster international cooperation in these regions that meets the interests of the Russian state and business community, especially in the fields of energy, transport, ecology, trade boost and investment.

An important event in terms of bolstering our interaction with the Central Asian countries with the use of UN formats was the session held in Moscow on October 20, 2008, of the Governing Council and the Economic Forum of the UN Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) incorporating under its aegis all states of this region, as also Azerbaijan and Afghanistan. UN regional platforms also were used by us for the active promotion of cooperation by the constituent entities of the Federation on the pressing issues of development, environmental activities, and the enhancement of trade and investment attractiveness.

Active work was conducted to rebuild relations with UN operational programs, funds and specialized agencies in connection with the Russian donor potential buildup in the context of realizing the Concept of Russia’s Participation in International Development Assistance. In particular, work began on the preparations for the creation of a Russian National Committee for UNICEF, which will solicit private sector resources and individual donations to finance the Fund’s programs in our country and abroad, primarily in the CIS.

Projects were developed and cleared with Russian specialized agencies and foreign partners that are meant to be carried out within the framework of Russia’s voluntary contribution to UNIDO’s Industrial Development Fund.

The problems of sustainable development and environmental protection, including countering global climate change figure prominently among the international community’s global priorities at this stage. Accordingly, the significance of this area of activity is also steadily increasing in the Russian diplomats’ work. In this case our foreign policy efforts aim primarily to help solve the tasks facing the Russian Federation in providing a healthy environment, in enhancing people’s quality of life and in bolstering national ecological security without prejudice to socioeconomic interests.

In 2008 Russia ongoingly built its cooperation with the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), UN Forum on Forests (UNFF), the UN Environment Program (UNEP), the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT), and global and major regional environmental conventions and agreements – climate, the ozone layer, desertification, biodiversity, transfrontier air pollution, and the protection of the marine environment of the Arctic, the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and the Pacific Northwest.

Russia plays a leading role in advancing the climate process with an eye to devising an international framework for cooperation in combating climate change for the post-Kyoto period (after 2012). Russia has stood consistently for strengthening the constructive foundations of, and imparting to the international climate regime a truly universal and equitable character. That’s where the efforts of Russia’s delegation were concentrated during the work of the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 4th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Poznan in December 2008.

Significant is the contribution of the Russian Foreign Ministry to shaping and implementing the environmental agenda of the Group of Eight.

Work is continuing aimed at Russia’s accession to such important multilateral environmental agreements as the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and so on.

The role of Russia is also increasing in international health cooperation. Among the latest steps realized with the participation of the Russian MFA are our country’s accession to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the decision to hold a European Congress of Pediatricians in Moscow in July 2009. Our donor participation is being built up in dealing with the most acute health problems on a global level – fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, as well as an avian flu pandemic.

In 2008 Russia consistently advocated stepping up international efforts to battle the global food crisis (GFC), which has moved into the category of most acute problems. The rapid growth of food prices in the last three years has adversely affected the living standards of the population, especially in developing countries, and really jeopardized the achievement of the key MDG 2015 target of halving the number of starving people in the world.

Pursuant to our principled tenet of strengthening the role of the UN and its specialized agencies in dealing with global problems, we actively supported the establishment in April of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis to develop a Comprehensive Action Program. In the course of the participation in the work of the High-Level Conference on World Food Security: The Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy (Rome, June 3-5, 2008) and of the Substantive Session of ECOSOC (New York, July 2008) we pursued a line on strengthening the role of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in questions of developing the agro sector and ensuring food security.

Taking into account the significance of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) as the main channel for providing food aid, Russia continued to build up its donor contribution to WFP activities. In 2008 we financed food aid for the population of Armenia ($2m), Kenya ($2m), Cuba ($1m), Tajikistan ($2m), Ethiopia ($4m) along with providing one-time aid to Bangladesh ($1.5m), Guinea ($1m) and Zimbabwe ($1m).

We also actively backed the consideration of the GFC issue this year by the G8 Summit in Toyako. In particular, its statement on global food security, adopted following the debate, endorsed the Russian initiative for holding regular meetings of G8 agriculture ministers. Also received with interest was our proposal that a World Grain Summit be held in Russia in the summer of 2009. The G8 leaders supported the steps to form a Global Partnership on Agriculture and Food, strengthening and building on existing UN and other international institutions.

An important UN-related task of Russian diplomacy is work on upholding Russian interests in the intergovernmental and expert bodies of the UN and other international organizations defining their policy in questions of management, personnel, budget and program planning and procurement.

In considering management and budget matters related to the functioning of international organizations, Russia has consistently sought to enhance the effectiveness of the work of the UN Secretariat (and the secretariats of other international organizations) on implementing decisions of member states, to bolster accountability and transparency in its activities, to increase the responsibility of the Secretariat officials for decisions and performance and to ensure procurement effectiveness and transparency, and fair international competition in the UN market.

Bolstering harmony among civilizations and, inter alia, fostering constructive interaction between members of all religious confessions is among the foreign policy priorities of Russia.

We hold that the UN platform offers all possibilities for developing a broad dialogue in this field involving the representatives of states and civil society. We stand ready to take the most active part in it.

Russia is a member of the Group of Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations (AC), and supports the work of Jorge Sampaio, the UN Secretary-General's High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations. We are certain that the AC can become a real framework for bolstering cooperation in this area of contemporary international relations. In particular, the First Alliance of Civilizations Forum held in Madrid in January 2008, in which delegations from more than 80 states, including Russia, and over 300 representatives of NGOs, religious entities, business circles and media took part, is testimony to this.

Generally speaking, we understand the urgent need for the adaptation of the United Nations and all its bodies to the changing conditions in the world, and staunchly champion international institutions reform while strengthening the central role of the world Organization. This position remains invariable for us. We have always proceeded on the assumption that mankind has thought up nothing more effective than the UN to maintain global security over the last century.