Zur Dokumentation: Moskauer Sicherheitskonferenz – mit Vorwürfen nach Westen

In Moskau findet derzeit die 4. Moskauer Konferenz zur internationalen Sicherheit statt. (Fun Fact am Rande: Bei einer früheren Konferenz 2012 war auch die Bundeswehr hochrangig vertreten, wie aus der Konferenzbroschüre hervorgeht.) Die Reden, die der russische Verteidigungsminister Sergej Schoigu (Foto oben) und Generalstabschef Walerij Gerasimow dort gehalten haben, gibt’s auf der Webseite des russischen Militärs in einer englischen Fassung.

Aus der Reuters-Zusammenfassung:

Top Russian officials accused the United States on Thursday of seeking political and military dominance and sought to put blame on the West for international security crises, including the conflict in east Ukraine.
Evoking Cold War-style rhetoric, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said a drive by the United States and its allies to bring Kiev closer to the West was a threat to Moscow and had forced it to react. (…)
Echoing his comments, General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, told the meeting: „Considering themselves the winners of the Cold War, the United States decided to reshape the world to fit its needs.

 

Vorsorglich dokumentiere ich die veröffentlichte englische Fassung der Reden mal hier (man weiß ja nie, wie lange solche Texte stehen bleiben):

Aus der Rede des Verteidigungsministers:

The Head of the Russia Military department General of the Army Sergei Shoigu gave an opening speech at the conference.

He expressed his conviction that the majority of modern crises can be resolved through political and diplomatic efforts.

“The example of this — disposal of chemical weapons in Syria, agreements concerning the nuclear programme of Iran,” mentioned the Russian Defence Minister.

In his opinion, “nowadays a professional and open dialogue of military experts, where they could exchange opinions concerning the termination of armed confrontation in the most troubled areas of the world, is highly sought”.

“In this context we believe that the military and political interests of regional parties must become a main focus, but not the ambitions of those who consider the world in view of self-exceptionalism,” stated the head of the Russian Military department.

“We experience a turning point of our history. It is in our hands to define the world order. Of course, we will continue existing in the conditions of confrontation, dictate of force, disregard of the international law and national interests of states, but where will such policy lead us to?” said the Russian Defence Minister.

Sergei Shoigu emphasized that Russia suggested another way – the way of multilateral interaction based on the principle of equal undivided security.

“We must find the solutions for complicated problems of international security, which will be based on the balance of interests and compromises, but not on force and aggression,” he said.

The Head of the Russian Military Department mentioned that those words were backed by serious initiatives, the realization of which would allow to defuse tension and to strengthen global and regional security.

For instance, the solution of the situation concerning the European Missile Defence System lies in the idea of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to create non-strategic missile defence system for Europe.

Sergei Shoigu reminded that the Russian suggestion provided the creation of economically practicable missile defence system, the scale, structure and capabilities of which would be commensurate with the risks which Europe faces.

“The other example – ensuring stability in Asia-Pacific Region. In 2013 Russia together with China and Brunei offered action plan of building there new security architecture,” explained the Chief of the Russian defense department.

Special attention of the Minister of Defense was paid to the situation in Ukraine.

“Strive to involve Kiev in their sphere USA and its close allies crossed all possible limits which could not be left without our reaction. Unconstitutional shifting of power in the country resulted in civil war,” stated Sergei Shoigu.

“Ukrainian colour revolt imposed by USA has become a biggest tragedy for its people,” said the Russian Minister of Defense.

Same time, according to him, the phenomenon of colour revolutions is now getting developed and receiving a global character.

Sergei Shoigu underlined that that “structure of stability built after the World War II is now getting ineffective”.

“The number of countries considering themselves as “the winners of cold war” is trying to impose their will on the others. They freely interpret the basic norms of the international law, widely use double standards, they get roughly involved into internal affairs of sovereign countries, also by using power,” highlighted the Chief of the Russian defense department.

He stated that “unilateral decisions in the sphere of international security, plans of absolute power domination are going against with the interests of the other countries, and become disastrous for global security”.

The Russian Minister of Defense drew the attention of the audience to “Iranian problem”.

Sergei Shoigu underlined that Tegeran missile threat was not confirmed.

“It is clear now that mythical Tegeran missile threat imagined by USA and allied countries was a simple flannelling,” said the Russian Minister of Defense.

He stressed that the Russian Defence Ministry warned European colleagues about this danger a few years ago. „The recent sad events in France, Canada, Denmark confirmed that we were right,“ said Sergey Shoygu.

He also noted that the build-up of the US missile defense system threatens the strategic stability in the world.

„Our forecasts for the global missile defense system of the United States, stated at the Moscow Conference of 2012, are being proved to be correct. We affirm that the American missile defence’s architecture embodied in the life is a threat to strategic stability,“ said the Russian Defence Minister.

Sergey Shoigu is convinced that the NATO’s member-states seek to seize geopolitical space, building up military potential in Eastern Europe and closing to Russia’s borders.

„The alliance dropped propaganda clichés of past years about its focus on cooperation with Russia,“ said the Minister of Defence of Russia.

He noted that „the geographic concentration of the areas of the NATO’s exercises – only the eastern flank of the alliance and the Arctic region – is an evidence of their anti-Russian purposefulness.“

„Information war has become aggravated, and lies and slander within it against our country and its Armed Forces have become commonplace. The media of many European states are spinning theses about the need to deter Russia, „the growth of the Russian military threat“, which supposedly requires „immediate reaction“ of the NATO,“ said Sergey Shoygu.

„At the same time, some Western countries are trying to drag also countries in Asia and Latin America in the anti-Russian campaign, choosing isolation of Russia as a target,“ he added. „All this for some persons has become a painful obsession.“

Referring to the events in Afghanistan, Russian Defence Minister believes that the International Security Assistance Force in the country was unable to cope with the task.

„Terrorism in Afghanistan is not eradicated, and the flow of narcotics increased. All this represents a real threat to Russia’s neighbours, first of all, to our allies in Central Asia,“ said the Minister of Defence of Russia.

In this regard, he said that Russia will continue to support Tajikistan with arms and military equipment, as well as to strengthen the Russian outpost in the country – our military base.

Sergei Shoigu also thinks that it is necessary to unite efforts in order to struggle against the attempts of heroization of Nazism.

He pointed out that the year 2015 is remarkable for the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory – “an event of historical importance”. The head of the Russian military department emphasized the fact that the Soviet Union played a decisive role in the defeat of Nazism. But Russia has never been “dividing the victory into the ours and another’s and it respects the contributions of all nations which shoulder to shoulder with Soviet soldiers fought against “the Brown Plague” and militarism in Europe and Asia.

“Today it is important to unite efforts in order to struggle against any attempts of heroization of Nazism, reanimation of fascist and militarist ideology, spreading of xenophobia and racism. Our common duty is not to allow new tragedies to happen. We need neither wars no shocks. We need peace to achieve constructive goals,” – Sergei Shoigu said.

He added that he would like to express his gratitude to the leaders and peoples of the countries that carefully treat memorials and burial sites of Soviet soldiers.

“We remember about the contribution of our allies in this battle as well. As the majority of countries we will hold sacred the memory of those people who laid down their lives for the liberation of Europe from fascism”, as the Russian Minister of Defence has pointed out.

Aus der Rede des Generalstabschefs:

Today, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, speaking at the 4th Moscow Conference on International Security, said that the Ukrainian crisis erupted because of the reluctance of the US and its NATO allies to take into account Russia’s protection of its national interests.

„The principal and independent position of the Russian Federation to resolve the situation in Ukraine was seen by the US and its allies in the NATO and European Union as a manifestation of our state „unauthorized“ self-reliance in settling its national interests. In an effort to „put Russia in its place“, Western countries render political and economic pressure on our country,“ said Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

The head of the Russian General Staff said that the US, considering themselves as the „winners“ in the „Cold War“, decided to reshape the world exclusively for themselves. „Striving for absolute domination, Washington stopped in their policies to take into account the interests of other countries and made for itself an optional compliance with international law,“ said Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

Turning to the issue of NATO enlargement, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation drew attention to the danger of moving its military infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders.

„It is significant that almost all new alliance members are former members of the Warsaw Pact and post-Soviet Republics. In other words, from the 1990s, he NATO’s expansion occurs strictly to the East, toward the Russian borders,“ said Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

„We are constantly being under tries to convince us that the North Atlantic alliance’s development occurs exclusively for defensive purposes and is not directed against Russia. However, the well-known facts suggest otherwise. Since 1999, the number of members of the bloc increased by 12 countries, while in the period of „cold war“, their number increased only by 4,“ stated the Chief of the Russian General Staff.

When this process of including new members in the block is not ceased. „Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina are considered the most likely candidates for entering NATO in the near future. In addition, the alliance continues to claim about the prospects of Euro-Atlantic integration of Georgia and Ukraine,“ said the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

He reported the strength of overall NATO forces is 1.7 million men, and the total strength of all Armed Forces of allied countries is above 3.7 million.

“Parallel with increase of the number of member countries the leaders of Organization give a big importance to involvement of non-aligned countries to the organization activities,” underlined General of the Army Valery Gerasimov.

“Even if we not take political aspect of NATO leaders’ actions and considering the situation only from strategic point it is hard to miss negative influence of emerging situation on the Russian security,” said the Chief of the General Staff.

According to the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, radical change of NATO attitude towards Russia is expressed in activization of military activities near the Russian boundaries.

“Before 2013 there was relatively stable (year by year repeating) NATO activity, and from 2014 we may observe jumpstart of increasing NATO activities,” as reported by Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

Particularly he explained if compared to 2013 the number of calls in the aquatic area of the Black Sea by the ships of NATO countries located outside the Sea increased by 4 times, whereas flights of tactical and reconnaissance aircrafts increased by two times and the flights of distant radiodetection crafts by 9 times.

“The increase of NATO activities receives planned manner,” stated the Chief of the General Staff.

The Russian Chief of Staff announced that the Russian Ministry of Defense does not except military danger for Russia from the side of new Ukrainian leaders.

“As a matter of fact, there is a civil was in Ukraine, which deprive innocent people of their lives. It is difficult to predict the results. We do not know what directions the Ukrainian authorities receive from the American curators and where the aggression of Kiev will be pointed in the future. Anyway this indeterminacy does not exclude military threat for Russia,” said Valery Gerasimov.

He stated that “Radicals and Russophobes” had taken over the government of Ukraine and legalized the neo-Nazis and nationalist organizations. “The main policy of the Ukraine has become accusation of Russia of its internal problems as well as harassment of Russian-speaking population,” stated the Chief of the General Staff.

As an example of such event, he named the Georgian aggression at the Russian peacekeepers in the South Ossetia in August 2008.

Moreover, said Gen. Valery Garasimov, the new Ukrainian leaders use military force in order to suppress the people of Donbas that expressed distrust to the illegitimate government and do not agree with the Russophobian policy of the state.

“Radicals and Russophobes that came to power following the coup in February 2014 has legalized functioning of neo-fascist and nationalist organizations,” – stated the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

“Accusations against Russia of all Ukrainian domestic problems and oppression of Russian-speaking population has become the main meaning of the Ukrainian state policy” – said the head of the General Staff.

He pointed out that attempts “to put Russia in her place” more and more “clearly show that Washington and its NATO partners are eager to create crises in the regions bordering Russia”.

“The technology of those revolutions has become standard: manipulating the protest potential of the population from the outside using information space together with political, economic, humanitarian and other non-military measures” – explained the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

The scenario of coup d’etat in the form of “Colour revolutions” in the post-Soviet region was successfully realized in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, – said the army general, – as a result, pro-Western and anti-Russian forces were coming to power”.

The head of the General Staff said that nowadays we can observe a continuous decay of the structure of regional and global security created in the 20th century.

“As we did before, we continue to draw attention to the problem that the existing system of international security does not provide equal security for all states because one states ignore universally accepted norms and rules,” – said General of the Army Valery Gerasimov.

“Today Russia still takes this position. This is proved by the content of the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation, in which the official views of our country on providing military security and defence are set,” – said the head of the General Staff.

Nachtrag: die Rede von Außenminister Sergeij Lawrow in der vom russischen Außenministerium veröffentlichten englischen Fassung (offensichtlich ist die Übersetzung noch nicht komplett, wird ggf. nachtragen):

The Moscow conference, organised by the Russian Defence Ministry, has firmly established itself as an important platform for an open and constructive exchange of opinions on key aspects of global security. This conversation is highly relevant, taking into account the ongoing buildup of forces of instability and conflict in international relations.

I would like to cite one quotation: “There can be no middle ground here. We shall have to take the responsibility for world collaboration, or we shall have to bear the responsibility for another world conflict.” These words were delivered by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945. I believe that they formulated one of the main lessons of the most devastating global conflict in history: it is only possible to meet common challenges and preserve the peace through collective, joint efforts based on respect for the legitimate interests of all partners.

This year we mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Great Victory. Leaders, delegations, and national military contingents from a large number of countries will participate in the events taking place in Moscow on May 9. By celebrating the anniversary of the Great Victory we are not only paying tribute to the heroic feat of the soldiers who freed the world from the madness of the Nazis, but are also reaffirming the great importance of the historic decisions that laid the groundwork for the postwar international system, including, of course, the UN.

Unfortunately, soon after the founding of the UN, the opportunities for global governance based on genuine partnership were undermined by the head-on bipolar confrontation. However, a quarter of a century ago it seemed that the end of the Cold War, for the first time in the history of humankind, had opened the prospect for a transition to a stage of broad cooperation and constructive development. Russia has been actively and consistently working toward this, among other things, calling for serious efforts in the Euro-Atlantic region to put into practice a principle of equal and undivided security and form a common economic and humanitarian space from Lisbon to Vladivostok. Unfortunately, they refused to even listen to us, let alone heed our call. As a result, the events on the European continent have followed a totally different, negative path.

(Foto: mil.ru/Valim Savitsky)