MOSCOW, May 15 (RIA Novosti) – The Ukrainian government’s use of helicopters with UN signage during punitive operations in the country’s southeast is inadmissible, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Thursday.
“The use of aviation technology with UN signage without the sanction of the Security Council is inadmissible and calls about the most serious concern,” Lukashevich said during a briefing.
He added that Russia has raised the issue with the UN secretariat and has demanded an appropriate investigation.
“We hope that the United Nations Organization will give its assessment and condemn such actions by the Kiev authorities, which have taken upon themselves full responsibility for the unsanctioned use of the flag of the United Nations Organization,” he said.
Earlier it was revealed that the Ukrainian military had used helicopters with UN signage during operations to quash protests in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk Republic. The helicopters were apparently previously used in peacekeeping operations in Congo.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also called for an explanation as to why the Ukrainian authorities had used the helicopters.
UN Secretary-General representative Stephane Dujarric said at a briefing Wednesday that the UN has voiced concerns to the Ukrainian Permanent Mission to the UN over reports of the use of helicopters with peacekeepers symbols in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Countries that supply equipment for UN peacekeeping operations around the world are obliged to "remove all logos and signs bearing the UN's name once such equipment has been repatriated to the home country or is no longer being used for official UN purposes," UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said.
