Regarding the words of Guterres about the violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry noted that this country, according to the provision on respect for territorial integrity in the Declaration on Principles of International Law of 1970, does not belong to “states that observe in their actions the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples “.
“The government of Ukraine was not and is not such,” the department added.
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Guterres refused to consider what is happening in Donbass a genocide
On February 22, the UN Secretary General said that Russia’s recognition of the independence of the Donbass republics is “a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine”, the UN Charter and the Declaration on the Principles of International Law.
Guterres also stressed that he would not consider the Russian military as peacekeepers if they go to Donbass in accordance with the permission received by Vladimir Putin. “When the troops of one country enter the territory of another country without its consent, they <...> are not peacekeepers,” Guterres said, expressing concern about the “distortion of the concept of peacekeeping.”
The UN Secretary General also added that the situation in Donbass does not fall under the definition of genocide, as Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, had previously called it.
Russia recognized the independence of the DPR and LPR after Russian President Vladimir Putin, together with the heads of the republics, signed relevant documents, including treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with the leaders of the DPR and LPR, on February 21. Putin called this decision long overdue.