Mr Chair, I will begin by\u00a0repeating the remarks\u00a0made\u00a0by my Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary\u00a0in response to this\u00a0incident,\u00a0in which\u00a0a\u00a0Russian drone\u00a0struck\u00a0a residential building in\u00a0Gala\u021bi,\u00a0injuring\u00a0civilians. The United Kingdom stands in full solidarity with Romania, with\u00a0Ukraine, and with all those\u00a0impacted\u00a0by Russia\u2019s latest attacks, which we unreservedly condemn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This incident\u00a0represents\u00a0a dangerous violation of Romania\u2019s sovereignty\u00a0and a serious violation of NATO airspace.\u00a0It\u00a0contravenes\u00a0key\u00a0principles of the\u00a0Helsinki Final Act.\u00a0It increases instability\u00a0and\u00a0heightens the risk of miscalculation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Chair, this\u00a0incident\u00a0also\u00a0appears to be\u00a0part of a broader pattern. One which\u00a0stems\u00a0from Russia\u2019s\u00a0war of aggression against\u00a0Ukraine. That war\u00a0already constitutes\u00a0a fundamental breach of OSCE principles and commitments. The spillover we are now\u00a0witnessing\u00a0into\u00a0the\u00a0territory\u00a0of NATO Allies\u00a0further endangers regional and Euro-Atlantic security.\u00a0<\/p>\n
NATO is a defensive alliance.\u00a0And, as my Foreign Secretary has\u00a0stated, NATO\u2019s resolve to safeguard peace and security\u00a0across our territory\u00a0remains\u00a0steadfast.\u00a0As part of\u00a0that effort,\u00a0the United Kingdom continues\u00a0to coordinate closely\u00a0with\u00a0Romania,\u00a0including\u00a0through our contribution to\u00a0Enhanced\u00a0Air\u00a0Policing on\u00a0NATO\u2019s\u00a0Eastern\u00a0Flank.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Chair,\u00a0under the OSCE\u2019s politico-military dimension,\u00a0all\u00a0participating States have committed to reducing risks, increasing predictability, and avoiding actions that could lead to misunderstandings or unintended confrontation.\u00a0Russia claims to\u00a0abide by\u00a0these\u00a0commitments, and\u00a0wants\u00a0necessary dialogue.\u00a0In this spirit, we ask the following questions of Russia:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Can the\u00a0Russian Federation confirm\u00a0to\u00a0this\u00a0forum\u00a0that\u00a0its armed drone\u00a0hit Romanian territory,\u00a0injuring\u00a0civilians,\u00a0and\u00a0does it\u00a0agree that such\u00a0an\u00a0incident\u00a0is dangerous and\u00a0an\u00a0unacceptable\u00a0violation of sovereign territory?\u00a0<\/p>\n
What measures were taken\u00a0to prevent violations of\u00a0Romania\u2019s\u00a0airspace during these\u00a0drone\u00a0operations, and\u00a0what\u00a0steps will Russia take to ensure that\u00a0any\u00a0such incident\u00a0will\u00a0not\u00a0happen again?\u00a0<\/p>\n
As we have\u00a0underlined\u00a0at\u00a0previous\u00a0FSC meetings,\u00a0we\u00a0ask these questions with\u00a0the\u00a0sincere\u00a0aim of\u00a0managing risk: we\u00a0understand if the Russian delegation\u00a0prefers\u00a0to consult\u00a0on the detail\u00a0and respond\u00a0at a future meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To conclude, an armed Russian drone injured civilians in Romania. In doing so, it violated\u00a0the airspace of\u00a0Romania,\u00a0a NATO Ally.\u00a0These are\u00a0the\u00a0facts. It is also a fact that this incident would not have happened were\u00a0Russia\u00a0not continuing to wage its\u00a0war of aggression against Ukraine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0best way to prevent\u00a0any\u00a0such incidents\u00a0in future is for\u00a0Russia\u00a0to\u00a0end\u00a0its\u00a0illegal\u00a0aggression against Ukraine,\u00a0to agree to a full and unconditional ceasefire,\u00a0and\u00a0to engage seriously\u00a0in negotiations towards a\u00a0just and lasting peace.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thank you Chair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mr Chair, I will begin by\u00a0repeating the remarks\u00a0made\u00a0by my Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary\u00a0in response to this\u00a0incident,\u00a0in which\u00a0a\u00a0Russian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-617533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}