Ukraine Rep. to UN accuses Russia of terrorism, promotion of ”Russian world”

Thursday, May 12, 2016 - 10:40 (EEST) Section: Latest news

Speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council on fighting terrorism, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, Volodymyr Yelchenko, accused Russia of financing terrorism in order to spread the ideology of the ”Russian world.”
He said that the warmongering extremist ideologies pose a serious threat to international peace and security and strongly condemned the atrocities of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al-Qaeda, according to the UN News Center.
Yelchenko said that despite the recent successes in the fight against international terrorist threats, particularly in regard to combating the financing of terrorist organizations from certain sources, the efforts in countering their propaganda is not concerted enough, as well as in the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions.
He called for joint efforts of governments, civil society and the private sector to counteract the use by terrorist groups of the internet and social networks for attracting new fighters and seeking resources to finance their activities.
Stating that international law requires states not to resort to acts of terrorism and to prevent them, the ambassador said that for more than two years, Ukraine has been ”suffering from the aggression of its neighbor, the Russian Federation.”
”Russia temporarily occupied and illegally annexed the territories of Ukraine – the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol – and continues hostile subversive activities in Donbas,” said Yelchenko.
He said that ”Russia is using a wide range of hybrid warfare technology, including the financing of terrorism, to spread the ideology of the so-called ”Russian world.”
”This neo-imperialist ideology does not repress, but instead encourages the violation of international law and human rights, serious crimes, including terrorist acts,” said the permanent representative of Ukraine to the UN.
According to Yelchenko, one of the key elements of ”hybrid of aggression against Ukraine” is ”propaganda, spread by state-controlled media.” He added that ”this hybrid propaganda, based on Soviet and tsarist experience, and other totalitarian concepts, continues to influence successfully, first of all and mainly, the young people.”
The permanent representative of Ukraine said that there are reports of cases when minors participate in the activities of terrorist organizations, the so-called ”DPR” and ”LPR,” in repeated attacks on civilians in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, using weapons and ammunition supplied by the Russian Federation.
Yelchenko called on the member states, along with efforts to identify social, cultural, religious and other root causes of violent extremism and terrorism, to pay attention to such phenomena as the state propaganda of intolerance and hatred, as well as information wars, which are often part of hybrid warfare.
He also urged to take due care of the victims of terror. The permanent representative of Ukraine to the United Nations called for the proclamation of the International Day of Remembrance of the terrorist attacks.