Statement by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to FAO and other International Organizations in Rome
Ambassador V.L.Vasiliev at the WFP briefing on the situation in Yemen

(Rome, 31 January 2019)

Dear Mr. Beasley,

Dear EB Members,

Dear colleagues,

We’re grateful to WFP Executive Director Beasley for organizing this extraordinary briefing on the situation in Yemen. It is also helpful and important since we are heading towards the Pledging conference on Yemen in Geneva at the end of February.

The humanitarian situation in Yemen continues to degrade. The recent shelling of the WFP grain facilities is a clear evidence of this. We’re facing the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. It features protractive intensive warfare and almost complete devastation of economic infrastructure.

Russia is consequently urging for the prompt cease-fire and launching the process of the comprehensive peace settlement in Yemen. In fact, it has already begun. The Joint Steering Committee on redeployment headed by Major General Patrick Cammaert has been set up. We support the efforts on scaling up the UN presence in Yemen, including the UN Secretary-General’s initiative aimed at creating a new Mission to support the realization of the recent Hodeidah agreements.

We consider it important that the government of the Republic of Yemen and the movement "Ansar Alla" maintain the dialogue to achieve compromise solutions to the existing differences.

Once again, we underline that an overall improvement of climate in the region will be beneficial to the settlement of the conflict in Yemen. The policy of opposition and aggressive competition should give way to the policy of dialogue and interaction. That includes creating a unified security architecture. Our common responsibility is to help to establish such a process at the regional level. The Russian concept of security and trust in the Persian Gulf remains, in our opinion, a good common ground for joint efforts in this area.

We all need to continue collective and bilateral work in support of the efforts of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General Mr. M. Griffiths on the political track. At the same time, we can’t take a break on our parallel efforts to remedy the humanitarian situation in Yemen, which, as Mr.Beasley, Country Director and his team informed us today, continues to worsen every day.

Russia continues to contribute to helping the Yemeni people. We act on a non-discriminatory basis. Humanitarian assistance should be provided to all in need in Yemen, regardless of who controls the territory in which they live. We presume that all actors in Yemen, as well as WFP, are guided by this principle. Russia stands ready to provide assistance to WFP in implementing its mandated activities.

Thank You.