LUGANSK, January 30. /TASS/. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ remarks on Donbass and Crimea have exposed the appalling double standards of the world organization, a Russian diplomat told TASS.

"UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres practices categorical double standards by dividing nations into those who have the right to self-determination and those who, for some reason, are, in his opinion, deprived of this right. Notably, the criteria for such a division are clear only to him and evidently lie outside the legal sphere, in a political underworld where only he understands," said Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik.

He cited Kosovo as an example. "If it is about Kosovo, then, according to the UN chief and his legal department, it has the right to self-determination even without a referendum and without taking Serbia’s opinion on this matter into account. But when it comes to Donbass, they think that there is no such right, despite the two referendums and 12 years of blood-shedding struggle for the right not to obey the illegal putschists who seized Kiev," he said.

Meanwhile, Russian military expert Andrey Marichko told TASS that the United Nations’ position on Donbass and Crimea’s self-determination reveals the erosion of international law. "Since those legislative acts that were unshakable after the Great Patriotic War (of 1941-1945, or the Eastern Front during WWII where the former Soviet Union fought against Nazi Germany - TASS), when a new world order, new rules were established, all these organizations, like the United Nations, are now ignoring them and trying to serve their Western patrons. <…> This is nothing if not doublespeak," he stressed.

According to Marochko, the referendums in Donbass, Novorossia, and Crimea were organized in strict compliance with international law, but many international structures keep on refusing to recognize their results.

On referendums and UN position

Earlier, Guterres stated that the UN Secretariat had concluded that the right of peoples to self-determination was inapplicable in the situations of Crimea and Donbass. According to him, the UN Secretariat believes that in these situations, "the principle of territorial integrity prevails" over the right of peoples to self-determination.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier in January that Crimea and later Novorossia and Donbass had opted to return to Russia in referendums based on the principles approved by the UN General Assembly and their accession to Russia could not be labelled as colonialism or annexation.

The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russian, refused to recognize the legitimacy of authorities brought to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

Crimea and Sevastopol adopted declarations of independence on March 11, 2014. They held a referendum on March 16, 2014, in which 96.7% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification treaties on March 18, 2014. The documents were ratified by Russia’s Federal Assembly, or bicameral parliament, on March 21.

The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions acceded to Russia following referendums that were held there from September 23 through 27, 2022. The overwhelming majority of residents voted for acceding to Russia. On September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties with their heads on their accession to Russia. On October 4, 2022, Putin signed laws on the ratification of these treaties. A year later, on September 28, 2023, the Russian president signed a law declaring September 30 as Day of Reunification of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions with Russia.