STATEMENT

By Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, explaining the vote on the UN Security Council resolution on extending the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan

19 September 2007

The Russian Federation has traditionally supported the activities of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, as well as extend its mandate for an additional period of 12 months. The International Security Assistance Force is combating the terrorist threat from the Taliban, Al-Qaida and other extremists, and is making an important contribution to stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan. We look forward to the further enhancement of the effectiveness of those efforts.

However, I should like to note that, during the process of reaching agreement on the draft resolution, no clarity was provided with regard to the proposed new wording pertaining to the coalition Force’s maritime interception component, which has not appeared in any of the Security Council’s previous resolutions on Afghanistan. As the Security Council is aware, the activities of the coalition are carried out outside the context of the United Nations, and the Council has not been informed in detail about them.

We believe that the maritime component is necessary solely to combat terrorism in Afghanistan and should not be used for other purposes.

On the basis of those considerations, during the final stage of the Council’s work, the Russian Federation proposed including in the draft resolution wording that has already been tested by the Security Council. Unfortunately, our proposals were not duly discussed. The draft resolution was hastily put to the vote, although there is still a month remaining to ISAF’s current mandate. That is not in keeping with the Council’s normal working practices.

The Russian Federation will therefore not be able to support the draft resolution. The unity of the Security Council has been sacrificed for the sake of undue haste.