00:00The United States is funding a conflict that you're involved in, of course, and now is
00:08allowing attacks on Russia itself.
00:13So that doesn't constitute war?
00:16Well, we officially are not at war.
00:22But what is going on in Ukraine is the, some people call it hybrid war, I would call it
00:32hybrid war as well, but it is obvious that the Ukrainians would not be able to do what
00:40they're doing with long-range modern weapons without direct participation of the American
00:48servicemen.
00:50This is dangerous, no doubt about this.
00:56We don't want to aggravate the situation, but since ATAKOMs and other long-range weapons
01:04are being used against mainland Russia as at war, we are sending signals, and we hope
01:12that the last one, a couple of weeks ago, the signal was the new weapon system called
01:18Areshnik, was taken seriously.
01:23However, we also know that some officials in the Pentagon and in other places, including
01:34NATO, they started saying in the last few days something like, well, NATO is a defensive
01:42alliance, but sometimes you can strike first because the ATAK is the best defense.
01:49Some others in STRATCOM, I think Bukinin is his name, representative of STRATCOM, he said
02:00something which allows for an eventuality of exchange of limited nuclear strikes.
02:11And this kind of threats are really worrying, because if they are following the logic which
02:19some Westerners have been pronouncing lately, that, well, don't believe that Russia has
02:28red lines, they announced their red lines, these red lines are being moved again and
02:32again and again, this is a very serious mistake.
02:39That's what I would like to say in response to this question.
02:44And you know, it's very interesting when people in the West say, we want this conflict to
02:53be resolved on the basis of the UN Charter and respect for territorial integrity of Ukraine,
02:58Russia must withdraw.
03:01The Secretary General of the United Nations says similar things.
03:06Recently, his representative repeated that the conflict must be resolved on the basis
03:12of international law, UN Charter, General Assembly resolutions, while respecting territorial
03:20integrity of Ukraine.
03:22It's a misnomer, because if you want to respect the United Nations Charter, you have to respect
03:29it in its entirety.
03:32And the United Nations Charter, among other things, says that all countries must respect
03:39equality of states and the right of people for self-determination.
03:49And they also mentioned the United Nations General Assembly resolutions, and this is
03:55clear that what they mean is the series of resolutions which they passed after the beginning
04:03of the special military operation and which demand condemnation of Russia, Russia get
04:09out of Ukraine territory in 1991 borders.
04:15But there are other United Nations General Assembly resolutions which were not voted,
04:21but which were consensual, and among them is a declaration on principles of relations
04:29between states on the basis of the Charter, and it clearly says, by consensus, everybody
04:38must respect territorial integrity of states whose governments respect the right of people
04:46for self-determination, and because of that, represent the entire population living on
04:54a given territory.
04:56To argue that the people who came to power through military coup d'etat in February 2014
05:05represented Crimeans or the citizens of eastern and southern Ukraine is absolutely useless.
05:14It is obvious that Crimeans rejected the coup.
05:18They said, leave us alone, we don't want to have anything with you.
05:21So did Donbass, Crimeans held referendum, and they rejoined Russia.
05:28Donbass was declared by the putschists who came to power a terrorist group.
05:35They were shelled, attacked by artillery.
05:40The war started, which was stopped in February 2015, and the Minsk Agreements were signed,
05:48and we were very sincerely interested in closing this drama by seeing Minsk Agreements implemented
05:57fully.
05:59It was sabotaged by the government which was established after the coup d'etat in Ukraine.
06:08There was a demand that they enter into a direct dialogue with the people who did not
06:14accept the coup.
06:17There was a demand that they promote economic relations with that part of Ukraine, and so
06:24on and so forth.
06:25None of this was done.
06:28The people in Kiev were saying we would never talk to them directly, and this is in spite
06:35of the fact that the demand to talk to them directly was endorsed by the Security Council.
06:42And they said they are terrorists, we would be fighting them, and they would be dying
06:48in cellars because we are stronger.
06:53Had the coup in February 2014, had it not happened, and had the deal which was reached
07:05the day before between the then president and the opposition implemented, Ukraine would
07:12have stayed one piece by now with Crimea in it.
07:17It's absolutely clear.
07:20They did not deliver on the deal, instead they staged the coup.
07:24The deal, by the way, provided for creation of a government of national unity in February
07:302014, and holding early elections, which the then president would have lost.
07:41Everybody knew that.
07:43But they were impatient, and they took the government buildings the next morning.
07:51They went to this Maidan Square and announced that they created the government of the winners.
07:59Compare the government of national unity to prepare for elections, and the government
08:04of the winners.
08:06How can the people whom they, in their view, defeated?
08:12How can they pretend that they respect the authorities in Kiev?
08:19You know, the right for self-determination is the international legal basis for decolonization
08:26process, which took place in Africa on the basis of this charter principle, the right
08:35for self-determination.
08:37The people in the colonies, they never treated the colonial powers, colonial masters, as
08:45somebody who represent them, as somebody whom they want to see in the structures which govern
08:55those lands.
08:56By the same token, the people in east and south of Ukraine, people in Donbass and Novorossia,
09:05they don't consider the Zelensky regime as something which represents their interests.
09:14How can they, when their culture, their language, their traditions, their religion, all this
09:21was prohibited?
09:25Take any conflict.
09:26The United States, UK, Brussels, they would interfere saying, oh, human rights have been
09:32grossly violated.
09:34We must restore the human rights in such and such territory.
09:39On Ukraine, never, ever, they mumbled the words human rights, seeing these human rights
09:48for the Russian and Russian-speaking population being totally exterminated by law.
09:56So when people say, let's resolve the conflict on the basis of the charter, yes, but don't
10:03forget that the charter is not only about territorial integrity, and territorial integrity
10:09must be respected only if the governments are legitimate and if they respect the right
10:15of their own people.
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