Ambassador of Russia to RSA

Consular of Russia in Pretoria and  Cape Town

This appeal is written by Ukrainian and Russian and Hebrew speaking Ukrainians. We and our relatives do not experience any pressure because of speaking one or another language. We freely speak, study and write in different languages and practice our culture. There is no problem of co-existence of different ethnic groups. Despite 78 % of population are Ukrainians, over 100 ethnicities peacefully and with mutual respect live at the territory of Ukraine.

We, Ukrainians who live in South Africa require Russia immediately remove all military forces from the territory of Ukraine and to stop intervening in internal politics. The violation of international law principle ‘to respect state sovereignty’, puts in risk not only Ukraine but the entire international community. Crimea is a territory of Ukraine and Russian military forces have no right to use force or psychological pressure neither to ordinary citizens nor to ukrainian soldiers. They also have no right to influence political situation at this multicultural territory.      

We call you to learn from South African experience, where despite difficult historical conditions conflicts are managed in a peaceful, democratic manner.

We call Russian mass media and authorities to stop propaganda and lying about the situation in Ukraine. There is no need to cut Jared Leto’s speech at Oscar ceremony where he mentions Ukraine. Russian population has the right to hear other people and not blindly follow only Putin’s point of view. Democracy is impossible without access to information.

We are convinced, that Ukrainians and Russians do not have reasons for the conflict. Each of us has relatives and friends who live in Russia and we see common problems that our countries face: corruption, oligarchy and social poverty. We should join our forces to improve the standards of living in both Ukraine and Russia. The war doesn’t lead us this way.

 

We call the Government and President of Russia instead of spending money on military actions to actively deal with poverty, access to medicine, protection of human rights and especially access to information at its own territory and especially in so called “deep Russia”. Ordinary Russians need your help to increase the life expectancy, life standards, creation employment and fight against alcoholism.  

Kind regards,

Coordination Council of Ukrainians in South Africa