🎙Statement by Ms. Iulia Zhdanova, Head of the Delegation of the Russian Federation to the Vienna Negotiations on Military Security and Arms Control, at the 1147th meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation

Vienna, September 30, 2026

Agenda item: Special Military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine

• The reckless actions of the Kiev regime's Western sponsors continue to pose a threat to peace and security. Right now, Europe is doing everything it can to hinder a peaceful settlement and disrupt the prospects for negotiations: they are pumping the Ukrainian regime with money and weapons, and helping to aim UAVs and missiles at civilians and civilian infrastructure.

• European countries are deliberately escalating the situation. They continue to convince their citizens of a mythical "Russian threat" and the need to prepare for hostilities, for a war against Russia. Their goal is the routinization and normalization of a critical scenario in the public consciousness. The course toward fueling the conflict is evident.

• It has long been clear that the territory of Ukraine is being used by #NATO member states as a testing ground for trying out new weapons systems and disposing of old ones under real combat conditions. However, it is also a convenient way for Western pseudo-peacemakers to fight Russia by proxy for the time being, while remaining "above the main fray." To this end, the process of "merging" the military-industrial complexes of Ukraine and European countries is underway at full speed.

• The current course of European governments is clearly aimed at preparing their military-industrial complex, state apparatus, economy, and civilian infrastructure for aggressive actions against Russia. Under these conditions, the recent statements made in New York by #NATO Secretary General M. Rutte—that #NATO countries are ready to provide Ukraine with certain security guarantees after the conflict—prove once again that neither the Kiev regime nor its Western handlers are aimed at de-escalation and a settlement.

• Within the framework of the special military operation, we note numerous instances of the Kiev regime violating the norms and principles of international humanitarian law (IHL). Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) units are mining territories of the Russian Federation to inflict damage on civilian infrastructure and the peaceful population. To this end, Kiev deliberately uses mines, booby traps, and improvised explosive devices, which are deployed to mine roadsides between settlements, bridges, dams, residential buildings, medical institutions, schools, and kindergartens.

• In the European Union, where they boast of "European values," they have remained completely silent: not a single word of condemnation. They only say that Ukraine is helping to defend "European values." In the West, humanitarian norms are being transformed from universal obligations into a tool for selective polemics, while the interests of the victims recede into the background, if not the third plan.

• The West also covers up widespread human rights violations during mobilization in Ukraine. This refers to the forced delivery of citizens to territorial recruitment centers (TRCs), unlawful imprisonment, physical violence, and the obstruction of access to legal assistance.

• Having started the special military operation in 2022 to protect the people of Donbas and Novorossiya from extermination by the Kiev regime, Russia continues to fight for their security and rights in full accordance with the letter and spirit of the UN Charter. Our struggle for truth and justice will be carried through to the end: the goals of the SMO will be achieved, threats to Russia's security eliminated, and peaceful life restored.

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