On Monday, 24 February, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha took on-line part at the special reinforced meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council devoted to the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Andrii Sybiha stressed that 24 February 2022 was a turning point for the history of Europe, and that the last three years have been serving a real test for common European principles.

Minister noted that this year, we will mark 50 years since the Helsinki Final Act, and reminded that this document begins with the declaration of ten principles guiding relations between participating states. He drew the special attention of his colleagues that the reality of Russian aggression is a yardstick for each of these principles.

The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stressed out that Russia has grossly violated all the fundamental principles of the Helsinki Final Act, including equality, sovereignty, freedom, political independence, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders.

At the same time, Minister underlined that the fundamental principles of the document including the peaceful settlement of disputes, non-intervention in internal affairs, human rights and fundamental freedoms, equal rights and self-determination of peoples, cooperation in accordance with the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, as well as the fulfilment of the obligations under international law, were totally destroyed by Moscow.

 “How is this possible that this organization still includes a country that violated all of its ten basic principles? Russia made a mockery of the Helsinki Final Act. Yet, it is still a part of the OSCE. This reality shows just how weak the current security architecture is”, - Andrii Sybiha stressed out.

The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry mentioned that the OSCE had been created precisely to prevent what Russia has been doing for more than a decade.

 “Russians continue systematic executions of our prisoners of war. They continue to abduct our children, organize concentration camps, and ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories,” Minister stressed.

Andrii Sybiha also reminded, that OSCE employees, Maksym Petrov, Vadym Golda and Dmytro Shabanov have been in Russian captivity for almost three years, and called for their release.

The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed confidence that the time has come to modernise international humanitarian law. He stressed out that the entire system created to prevent aggressive wars and mass atrocities in Europe has not worked.

 “Not only the Helsinki Final Act, but also the Geneva Conventions and other fundamental documents had not worked. It is time to update our instruments and make them effective. Ukraine will be leading this process this year and we invite all like-minded nations to join us”, Minister said.

Andrii Sybiha also emphasized that the new effective security architecture in Europe can only be built on the comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry underlined that all these principles had been laid down into the Ukrainian resolution in the UN General Assembly on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion.

“Voting for such resolution will be a test for every country. Whether we are in favor of the rule of law or - the law of the jungle? The decisions we take today will shape Europe's future for decades to come. Let’s make the right decisions and remain committed to our principles”, he summarized.