On the day of the UN General Assembly’s vote on resolution on Crimea, Serhiy Kyslytsya noted that Moscow had pledged not to violate international borders and not to use force against other states by signing the Helsinki Final Act

Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Serhiy Kyslytsya taking a word in UN General Assembly reminded about the lessons of history regarding Russian occupation of Crimea. In particular,  this was discussed during the vote for the resolution of the Third Committee of the UNGA “Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine),” as UNN reports.

“It is symbolic and ironic that Moscow has pledged not to violate international borders and not to use force against other states by signing the Helsinki Final Act… This act was fundamental to the development of democracy and human rights in the socialist countries of Europe, and inevitably this led to the disappearance of the Soviet Union a few years later,” Kyslytsya said.

He reminded the words of the first President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin that he said at the first summit of the Security Council in New York, about the chance of humanity to end despotism and abolish totalitarian order.

“However, this hope did not come true. It perished with the start of the Chechen war, and Kremlin leaders revived the cult of Stalin, who attacked Finland, occupied the Baltic countries, and signed a pact with Nazism, as Putin said in Poland. In 2008, he attacked Georgia. It is interesting that today, at a meeting adopting resolutions on the reports of the Third Committee, I am forced to remind these lessons of history,” Ukrainian diplomat said.

He also mentioned attempts by Russian agents to poison opposition leader Alexei Navalny, pointing to Russia’s crimes against human rights.

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