UK tells OSCE transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia poses threat to European security

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, Head of the United Kingdom's Delegation to the OSCE Neil Holland said this at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on Thursday.

"Last week the Russian Federation called one of its more hypocritical UN Security Council meetings, this time on 'western weapons transfers to Ukraine.' This was the cynical use of the Council to criticize support for a sovereign state to exercise its legitimate and legal right to defend itself against Russia's illegal war of aggression. But in making these accusations, Russia succeeded only in highlighting its own double standards and disinformation – the hallmarks of its malign actions on our continent and beyond.  Because just days before the meeting, we learned that Russia had taken delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles," he said.

The British ambassador emphasized that Iran's transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia "poses a direct threat to European security" just like those Russia received from North Korea, which took place in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions.

"There is a critical difference between the two situations, which Russia neglects to acknowledge. In one, weapons are being supplied to a sovereign State, Ukraine, to give it the means to defend itself in accordance with international law.  In another, weapons are being sent to a state, Russia, which is aggressively waging war against its neighbor which violates the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act. And what is more, these weapons are being used to wreak misery on Ukrainian civilians," Holland said.

He also condemned in the strongest terms the shelling of a frontline aid distribution site in the Donetsk region on September 12 and the Russian strike on a civilian cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea on September 11.

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