Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a statement in his address at the 70th General Assembly session of the United Nations that the anniversary of the organization is a good reason to turn to the history and discuss our common future.
"In 1945, those country, which defeated Nazism, joined its forces together in order to lay the foundations of the post-war world order. The key principles of the decision on the establishment of the United Nations were adopted in our country at the Yalta meeting. The Yalta system was actually archived through much suffering of tens of millions of lives and the two world wars. Let's be objective, it helped us to pass through stormy dramatic events that saved the world from massive upheavals. The UN is the best structure in respect of its legitimacy, representativeness and universality. The organization is often criticized: it demonstrates the lack of effectiveness, as well as the fact that the decision depends on the conflict among members of the Security Council,’’ Vladimir Putin said.
"The right of veto was always used by the United States, Great Britain, France, China, the Soviet Union and later by Russia. It is natural for such an organization. The essence of the organization is to work out compromises. Its power is to take into account different opinions and points of view,’’ said Russian president.
According to him, there is the only center dominance in the world after the Cold War. "Those who are at the top of the pyramid have a temptation to think that they are stronger and they know what to do better than anyone else. More over they believe that can ignore the UN, which often prevents from legitimizing of the decision. Certainly, the world is changing, and the UN must comply with this transformation. Russia is ready for further development of the United Nations with all partners. However, attempts to undermine the legitimacy of the UN are very dangerous. It can lead to collapse of the entire architecture of international relations. In this case we won’t have any rights, except the right of the strongers. It will lead to the world with domination of selfishness instead of teamwork. It will be the world in with without democracy and freedom," said Putin.
President Putin also noted that sovereignty is freedom, freedom of choice for people and for a state. "In this case, we are dealing with a matter of the legitimacy of a government. Playing and manipulating words is not allowed. Each condition must be clear and transparent in international affairs. We are all different and we should have a respectful attitude toward each other. No one is allowed to adapt himself to a model of development. We remember the example of the USSR's history: exporting social experiments based on ideological grounds often leads to tragic consequences and degradation. It seems that everyone repeats mistakes instead of learning from them. The export of ‘democratic’ revolutions is continuing," the President said.
However, he drew attention to the situation in the Middle East and North Africa. "People wanted changes there. But what has happened in reality? Aggressive foreign intervention led to destruction of a lifestyle. Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we can see violence, poverty, social disaster and absence of human rights. So I want to ask those who created this situation: Do you realize what you've done?" the President of the Russian Federation asked.