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Security Council

Fifty-fourth year

The Chinese Government vigorously calls for an immediate cessation of the military attacks by NATO against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. China calls on the international community and on the parties concerned in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to make concerted efforts to stabilize the situation as soon as possible and to defuse the crisis so as to bring peace back to the Balkan region at an early date.

I now resume my functions as President of the Security Council.

Mr. Lavrov (Russian Federation) (spoke in Russian): I have already said what my position is. Nothing of what I have heard here has changed that position. In any case, the assertion that the traditional basis for the use of force lies beyond the confines of the United Nations Charter is something that I cannot take seriously. I have set forth my position, and it has absolutely not changed.

But I have taken the floor just to make two factual clarifications, as some of my colleagues have mentioned by way of argument certain events that were not quite presented correctly. I would like to make the facts known, particularly given that this is an open, public meeting at which Members of the United Nations that are not members of the Security Council are present. I must therefore clarify two points.

The first point has to do with some colleagues' mention of the fact that Russia is a member of the Contact Group. That is quite correct, but they went on to say that Russia was a co-sponsor of the package of documents of the Contact Group. That is only partially true. The Contact Group adopted a document in London that is the basis of the draft political settlement. It is also true that that document enjoys the full co-sponsorship of the Russian Federation. With regard to the military implementation, the Contact Group never discussed that document, not because the Russian Federation did not want it to be discussed but because our partners in the Contact Group decided to discuss the military aspects of the implementation of the agreement behind our backs, in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and not in the Contact Group. We were discussing this with our partners in the Contact Group and made offers so that questions about the implementation of the agreement would be the subject of co-sponsorship within the Contact Group. That was not done.

So when they say that Russia is a co-sponsor of everything that was rejected by Belgrade, that is not the true situation. Now, I repeat: our Western partners in the Contact Group decided to prepare and discuss the military aspects behind our backs, and Russia had nothing to do with that proposal. It was the choice of our Western partners to do this.

The second clarification that I wanted to make has to do with the statement made by some of our colleagues to the effect that NATO's actions became inevitable because one or two of the permanent members of the Security Council had blocked action in the Council. That is simply not correct, for one simple reason: no proposals on this topic were introduced in the Security Council by anyone. There was never any draft resolution; there were no informal discussions, not even in the corridors — at least not with one permanent member of the Security Council, namely, Russia. Those discussions never took place. I am not saying what the results of those discussions were, but to state now that one or two permanent members of the Security Council blocked action in the Council is simply, diplomatically speaking, not true.

These are the clarifications I wanted to make so that everyone knows what the facts are.

The President (spoke in Chinese): In accordance with the decision taken earlier in the meeting, I now invite Mr. Jovanović to make a statement.

Mr. Jovanović: Today, the armed forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) committed a unilateral act of the most brutal and unprovoked aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a sovereign and independent State and a founding Member of the United Nations. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has not threatened any country or the peace and security of the region. It has been attacked because it sought to solve an internal problem and used its sovereign right to fight terrorism and prevent the secession of a part of its territory that has always belonged to Serbia and Yugoslavia.

The decision to attack an independent country has been taken outside the Security Council, the sole body responsible, under the Charter of the United Nations, for maintaining international peace and security. This blatant aggression is a flagrant violation of the basic principles of the Charter of the United Nations and is in direct contravention of its Article 53, paragraph 1, which states that, 13