V. Koronelli*
D
referendums on joining Russia were held on September 23-27 in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts (former Ukrainian regions). In the press ” mainstream Western” speculate a lot about the absolute priority of the principle of the territorial integrity of states over the right to self-determination of peoples. But in this particular case it is not.
A clear answer in this regard contains the Declaration on the principles of international law concerning friendly relations and cooperation among States in accordance with the UN Charter
. According to the manifesto, approved unanimously by the UN General Assembly in 1970: Every state must refrain from any act of violence that deprives peoples of their right to self-determination, freedom and independence.
. Peoples have the right to take action against such acts of violence and to obtain the support of the international community. In addition, this document establishes the duty to respect the territorial integrity of “the states… endowed with a government that represents the totality of the people belonging to the territory.”
Neo-Nazi forces, who seized power in Ukraine in February 2014 following a coup d’état organized with the support of NATO countries, instantly began to carry out a policy of discrimination against the ethnic Russian population and, of course, they never represented the entire people of Ukraine. Residents of the eastern regions of Ukraine initially refused to recognize the new illegitimate power. For this, the kyiv regime declared them terrorists, deployed punitive operations against them, bombing their cities and villages, killing and maiming people. Trying to dehumanize the Russian-speaking inhabitants of Donbas, President Zelensky, in an interview in September 2021, called them creatures
Y species
and urged them to go to Russia
. Judging by the result of the referendums held, the people decided to follow his advice and exercised their legitimate right to self-determination in accordance with the UN Charter, the International Covenants on Human Rights of 1966, as well as the ruling of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo of July 22, 2010, which confirmed that the unilateral declaration of independence by a part of a State does not violate any norm of international law. The free character of the expression of the will in the plebiscite has been confirmed by numerous observers, including international ones. Russia could not fail to heed this plea for help from the ethnically Russian population and not defend it from the inevitable genocide.
We well remember how Western countries recognized the independence of Kosovo, where there was no referendum and no one consulted the opinion of the inhabitants, openly trampling on the principle of inviolability of borders. The West allows itself to decide at its discretion which people have the right to self-determination and which do not. This practice is colonial and racist. Only the people have the right to determine their destiny and in the case of Donbas it was a question of survival.
* Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Mexico
