UK at OSCE: Russia's invasion of Ukraine violated Code of Conduct

Ankur Narayan, Counsellor for Politico-Military Affairs at the UK Delegation to the OSCE, said this at a meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation in Vienna on Wednesday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The Code commits us to act in solidarity if OSCE norms and commitments are violated. As catalogued by the OSCE Moscow Mechanisms, ODIHR and UN, there is irrefutable independent evidence of Russia violating international law, including international humanitarian law. As per the Code, such breaches are a 'direct and legitimate' concern for us all," the British diplomat said at a meeting dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the OSCE's Code of Conduct.

He stressed that Russia rejects the sovereign right of other states to choose their treaties of alliance, breaching Paragraph 11 of the Code. Russia's imposition of military domination over any other participating state is already a violation of Paragraph 13. Russia also violated Paragraph 14 of the OSCE Code of Conduct by stationing armed forces in the territories of other states – namely Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova - without a freely negotiated agreement, in line with international law.

In his speech, Narayan dwelt in detail on Russia's violations of paragraphs 30, 31 and 34 of the Code, which "compel states to ensure that their armed and security forces abide by international law." He singled out three separate elements, including attacks against critical civilian infrastructure ahead of winter, conflict-related sexual violence, and prisoners of war.

Narayan emphasized that Belarus had breached Paragraph 8 of the OSCE Code of Conduct by becoming an accomplice to Russia's illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine and supporting Russian forces and allowing them to use Belarusian territory for attacks against Ukraine.

"This is why we again demand that Russia withdraws fully and unconditionally from the whole territory of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders. We demand independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of violations of international humanitarian law and abuses of international human rights law.  The victims deserve justice. And we will keep working tirelessly with our international partners to this end," he said.