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Response speech by Head of the Russian delegation and Permanent Delegate of the Russian Federation to UNESCO Rinat Alyautdinov at a plenary meeting of the 216th session of the UNESCO Executive Board, Paris, May 16, 2023

19 May 2023 15:55
969-19-05-2023

Madam Chairperson,

I would like to use the right of reply to respond to the sweeping accusations against Russia that were made in a number of speeches.

I'll start with the strike on Kiev, which the Ukrainian representative mentioned. He didn't mention that it was a military facility that came under attack, and the fact that Ukrainian artillery fired shells daily at cities in the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic; people, including children, were being killed and cultural, historical and religious sites were being destroyed. In the DPR and the LPR alone, 103 such sites have been destroyed or damaged, including theatres, religious buildings, and monasteries. The representative of Ukraine failed to mention the fact that on May 3, Kiev launched a premeditated attack on the Moscow Kremlin which, in addition to being the President of Russia's residence, is included on the World Heritage List. The Ukrainian representative failed to mention that Kiev's state policy includes the glorification of Nazism. Hitler's henchmen are cast as fighters for Ukrainian independence, streets are renamed in their honour, and monuments are built to commemorate them. Over 500 streets were named in honour of the well-known Nazi collaborator and leader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, Stepan Bandera, and about 50 monuments to him have been built around Ukraine. Neo-Nazi units operate in the country, and military personnel wear chevrons with the Nazi insignia.

I will now briefly go over the cultural sites. According to UNESCO, not a single site on the World Heritage List was damaged in Ukraine during Russia's special military operation. The coordinates of these sites were provided by ICOMOS Russia to our Armed Forces in advance. The Defence Ministry of Ukraine refuses to provide UNESCO with written guarantees that it will not use cultural sites and contiguous grounds for military purposes. Truth be told, this refusal is not surprising, as we are aware of their habitual practice of deploying military positions inside or near the sites dedicated to religion, education, art, science and history, which is a violation of international law.

I would like to close by addressing those who advance accusations against us. Look at yourself and think back to 2003 when an unjustified and unprovoked war was unleashed by the Western coalition in Iraq and vast numbers of cultural sites and values were destroyed or moved out of that country. According to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities of Iraq, over 130,000 cultural and historical objects were taken out of the country in 2003-2004 alone. The same scenario unfolded in Syria.

Madam Chairperson, we are convinced that the "end-to-end" Ukrainisation of UNESCO's agenda and using this platform for addressing fleeting geopolitical issues that are imposed on it by a minority of member states is harmful to UNESCO.

Thank you.