"The special military operation for the protection of Donbas, conducted by Russia in line with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter's Chapter VII, is going according to plan. The focus now is on liberating the DPR and the LPR. Objectives have been set to minimize the loss of lives and eliminate casualties. The Russian Armed Forces are incapacitating the Kyiv regime military facilities using high-precision means. The latest Russian weapons have proven reliable in combat situations. The Russian soldiers act bravely and competently, strictly complying with all the humanitarian obligations. Unlike the Ukrainian armed formations, which make use of terrorist methods and treat prisoners of war in a barbaric fashion," Ambassador of Russia to Serbia Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko said in his interview with Kurir.
Do you agree with the claim that Russia wants to topple the regime in Kyiv and that the West wants to topple the regime in Moscow?
"The goals of the special military operation have been set by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin. They are the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. Its principal aim is to free the people of Donbas from the Kyiv regime's eight years of armed violence. The confrontational position that the US and its allies have taken towards Russia, which has an independent policy, is aimed at stifling it, isolating it artificially, and subjugating it to its dictate. However, it is evident that the attempts of the West to achieve domination in the world are doomed to fail."
What does Russia see as a compromise? What should Ukraine really accept for the war to stop?
"The legal agreements related to the Ukrainian case need to be based on the provisions regarding the guarantees for Ukraine's military neutrality, non-deployment of the military infrastructure there that puts Russia at risk, as well as a full ban on neo-Nazi ideology and practice. We are in favour of negotiations. Sadly, we don't see the Ukrainian side sharing this approach. After Istanbul, when the possibility appeared of agreeing on a number of solutions, what we got was an orchestrated event in Bucha. This shows that the Kyiv regime is under the control of its Western mentors, who see no use in negotiations, but rather in the continuation of the conflict. We call upon those behind Kyiv's actions to realize their responsibility."
Do you think that the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is disappointed by the lack of a larger-scale support of the West? What is your opinion of him?
"Despite his pre-election promises, Zelensky did nothing to end the violence against Donbas. He sabotaged the 2015 Minsk Agreements, approved by the UN Security Council, which were the only road map to a peaceful solution. He tacitly supported the spread of ultraradical and neo-Nazi ideas, and persecuted those who had a different opinion. If Washington and the European capitals had taken at least one real step towards encouraging the Ukrainian leadership to honour their international obligations, the current crisis could have been averted. In fact, the contrary was the case – they did everything to push Kyiv towards a violent resolution of the 'southeast problem'. Now the West has practically started a proxy war against Russia 'to the last Ukrainian'. Naturally, they aren't taking into account the interests of Ukraine itself."
The fact is that the war crimes have been committed in Ukraine. Mariupol is a place of a great tragedy. The Bucha massacre, which Moscow claims had been orchestrated, has sent shockwaves around the world. Allegations of genocide are being brought up as well.
"The Russian Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs have proven based on facts and testimonies that the claims about the alleged 'Russian crimes' in Ukraine are false. By blocking the truth, i.e. the information gathered in the investigation and first-hand accounts, the media become accessories to this horrific tragedy. I hasten to add that the West has intentionally been covering up the shelling of Donetsk and Kramatorsk by the Ukrainian forces, the atrocities committed by the 'flying squadrons of death' in Kharkiv and the nationalists in the secret prison at the Mariupol airport, as well as other war crimes that Kyiv has committed in the long-suffering Donbas lands. There will be new provocations – the methods and goals of the West are well-known. Just recall Račak. I'm convinced, however, that the truth cannot be hidden, and that the criminals will not get away with impunity."
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said: "We have seen no indication that President Putin has changed his ambition to control the whole of Ukraine and also to rewrite the international order, so we need to be prepared for the long haul." How do you comment on that?
"This is a clear illustration of the fact that the West are no longer pretending to be 'pacifists', which they never were to begin with. When the Cold War ended, the US and its allies violated international law, attempting to replace it by something called 'the rules-based order'. They resolved foreign policy problems by the use of force, as evidenced by the aggressive actions of either NATO or some members of the bloc in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. It was at the initiative of Washington that the anti-ballistic, medium-range missile, short-range missile, and Open Skies treaties were abrogated. Judging by the statements of the EU top diplomat Josep Borrell and the promises to push the amount of military aid to Kyiv to 1.5 billion euros, the EU is also turning into a tool of the militaristic expansion of the West. We are convinced that this goes against the Western countries themselves. We draw appropriate conclusions."
Is Russia afraid of NATO?
"Russia makes appropriate assessments of the development of the military and political situation in the Euro-Atlantic region. In the 2019 NATO military strategy, our country is directly designated as the main threat to the security of the bloc. However, rejecting Moscow's initiative to deescalate, the Alliance has for years engaged in intensive military 'conquests' of Russia's neighbouring states, including Ukraine. Our attempts – since 2009, but especially in late 2021 and early 2022 – to legally consolidate the principle of security indivisibility, i.e. the unacceptability of strengthening one's own security at the expense of the security of others, have been arrogantly dismissed. But security either is indivisible for all, or there is none at all. This reality cannot be ignored."
The US President Joe Biden has called Putin a war criminal. There have been suggestions that Putin should be brought to trial at the Hague and a Red Notice issued for him over the war crimes. How do you comment on that?
"Let yet another inappropriate statement be on the conscience of the US President. If even such political veterans are starting to lose their composure, that mean Washington realizes things aren't going well: the escape from Afghanistan, the economic destabilization, social fragmentation, etc. The foreign allies, with the exception of those fully dependent on the US, are rallied by threats only. As far as the statements on 'international tribunals' are concerned, promising material can be found by studying numerous military adventures of the Americans themselves and their European satellites."
Is Moscow concerned at all about being excluded from international organizations, the latest of which being the suspension from the UN Human Rights Council?
"This is a serious concern not only for us. Here, in Serbia, we keep getting letters of support. We are thankful to all those who have shown their solidarity with us. Together with likeminded people, Russia can and must resist the dangerous politicization of the international structures, violating their statutory documents, and abusing the current imbalance favouring the West in order to take the right to vote from Russia. Already a few illegal precedents have been set: the inclusive nature of the Council of Europe has been 'buried'; the operation of the UN Human Rights Council has been compromised. All this will affect Belgrade's position, which has cooperated with Russia in these organizations, including in the issues surrounding Kosovo. Outside of these structures, despite the immutability of our approach to resolving the Kosovo issue, it will certainly be more difficult for us to help Serbia."
Should Serbia be concerned about the delivery and price of Russian gas?
"Russia has been supplying natural gas to the European market for over half a century without interruptions. In 2021, a new delivery infrastructure was constructed in Serbia which not only meets the needs of the country for this environmental fuel, but also provides a profit from its transit to Hungary. The negotiations regarding the new contract are above all a commercial issue, and I wouldn't want to predict their outcome. The main thing is that both parties are committed to reaching an agreement on mutually acceptable terms. In this regard, there is no reason for concern."
Boban Karović
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