"Cuba calls for a solution that guarantees the security and sovereignty of all"

March 04th, 2022

Declaration by the Revolutionary Government

The U.S. determination to continue the progressive expansion of NATO towards the borders of the Russian Federation has led to a scenario, with implications of unpredictable scope, which could have been avoided.

The military moves made by the United States and NATO in recent months into regions adjacent to the Russian Federation, preceded by the delivery of modern weapons to Ukraine, which together amount to a progressive military encirclement, are well known.

It is not possible to rigorously and honestly examine the current situation in Ukraine without carefully assessing the just claims of the Russian Federation to the United States and NATO and the factors that have led to the use of force and the non-observance of legal principles and international norms to which Cuba subscribes and supports with full vigor and which are an essential reference, particularly for small countries, against hegemonism, abuses of power and injustices.

Cuba is a defender of International Law and committed to the Charter of the United Nations, which will always defend peace and oppose the use or threat of force against any State.

We deeply regret the loss of innocent civilian lives in Ukraine.  The Cuban people have had and continue to have an intimate relationship with the Ukrainian people.

History will hold the U.S. government accountable for the consequences of an increasingly offensive military doctrine outside NATO's borders, which threatens international peace, security and stability.

Our concerns are reinforced by NATO's recent decision to activate, for the first time, the NATO Response Force.

It was a mistake to ignore for decades the well-founded claims of the Russian Federation for security guarantees and to assume that Russia would remain defenseless in the face of a direct threat to its national security.  Russia has the right to defend itself.  It is not possible to achieve peace by encircling or corralling States.

The draft resolution on the situation in Ukraine that was not adopted by the Security Council on February 25th, which will be submitted to the General Assembly, was not conceived as a real contribution to the search for solutions to the current crisis.

On the contrary, it is an unbalanced text, which does not take into account the legitimate concerns of all parties involved.  Nor does it acknowledge the responsibility of those who instigated or deployed aggressive actions that precipitated the escalation of this conflict.

We call for a serious, constructive and realistic diplomatic solution to the current crisis in Europe, by peaceful means, that guarantees the security and sovereignty of all, as well as regional and international peace, stability and security.

Cuba rejects hypocrisy and double standards.  It should be recalled that in 1999, the United States and NATO launched a major aggression against Yugoslavia, a European country that they fragmented, at a high cost in lives, according to their geopolitical objectives, ignoring the UN Charter.

The United States and some of its allies have used force on multiple occasions.  They have invaded sovereign states to provoke regime change and intervene in the internal affairs of other nations that do not bow to their interests of domination and defend their territorial integrity and independence.

They are also responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians, which they call "collateral damage"; for millions of displaced persons and vast destruction throughout the geography of our planet as a result of their predatory wars.

Havana, February 26, 2022