Europe
UK tells OSCE that Russia’s justifications for its war on Ukraine do not withstand scrutiny, citing UN figures of 328 civilians killed in September
At the OSCE in Vienna on 29 October the UK rejected four Russian justifications for the invasion and asked Moscow how the use of force fits with the Helsinki Final Act.
The United Kingdom told the OSCE in Vienna on 29 October that Russia’s stated reasons for its war against Ukraine cannot be reconciled with the Helsinki Final Act. The statement, delivered by Neil Holland, was published by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
Civilian toll cited by London
Opening the statement, the UK said the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine had reported earlier this month that Russian attacks killed at least 328 civilians and injured more than 2,100 in September, which the UK described as 85 per cent higher than in September last year. According to the statement, civilians in Kyiv were killed or injured on 22 of the month’s 30 days, more often than in any month since the full-scale invasion began.
The UK also said preliminary reports indicate that civilian deaths in October will match or exceed the September levels, citing a reported 110 ballistic missiles fired at Ukrainian cities between 13 and 28 October. These figures are the UK’s account of UN reporting; no Russian response was available in the source read.
The UK further said that, in its report of 26 October, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that the Russian authorities have committed war crimes by intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects.
The four justifications the UK rejected
The UK said Moscow has never offered a single consistent explanation and has instead offered a succession of justifications. It addressed four.
On Russian claims of a right to protect people abroad who share its language or culture, the UK said participating States have agreed ways to protect national minorities, including through the OSCE High Commissioner, and that “invasion is not among them”. On the claim that Ukraine’s elected government is illegitimate, it said that if applied generally this would let any state decide which neighbouring governments deserve to exist.
On Russian security interests, the UK pointed to the OSCE commitment that security is indivisible and that no state should strengthen its own security at the expense of others, adding that every state has the right to choose its security arrangements. On pre-emptive self-defence, it said no one planned to attack Russia and that a right to strike first against threats perceived by a state alone would leave every state exposed.
A question put to Moscow
The UK concluded that a rule a state claims for itself but would never accept being applied to itself “is not a principle”. It invited the Russian Federation to state whether it still subscribes to all the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and how the use of force to alter another state’s borders fits with them, or else to say which principles it has disavowed and whether all participating States may also renounce them.
Background
Earlier UK statements at the OSCE were covered in UK tells OSCE that Russia carried out 86 attacks on Ukraine’s energy system since the US ceasefire call, with more than 550,000 left without power, and UK tells OSCE that Russia’s recruitment of foreign fighters is coercive and asks how many serve.