Russia aggressively used cyber, physical means to attack, destabilize Ukraine – Walsh

Mon, Mar 7, 2022

By editor

2 MIN READ

By Kennedy Nnamani

JAMES A. Walsh, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, has alleged that Russia appears to have aggressively used cyber in addition to physical means of attacking and destabilizing its neighbor.

This was contained in his remark at the general debate of the First Session of the Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime in New York, on February 28, 2022.

The Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, while expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people, noted that “the United States stands resolutely with the government and people of Ukraine and condemns in the strongest terms Russia’s premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine.”

Walsh, while making allusion to the statement made by Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, U.S Ambassador to the United Nation, alleged that with the event of the attack on Ukraine, the Russian government has made it clear that it does not share the international goal to cooperate against the scourge of cybercrime as well as to seek to foster a spirit of consensus and cooperation with all Member States. Thomas-Greenfield had stated that the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine is “tantamount to an attack on the UN.” Thus to Walsh, “The Russian Federation cannot present itself as a defender of the sovereignty of nations in these discussions, while at this very moment, it violates the sovereign territory of Ukraine.”

“We can hardly address the Russian proposals for cooperation in this sphere while Russia continues its audacious and illegal efforts in Ukraine. Until the current crisis in Ukraine is resolved peacefully, we will treat proposals by the Russian Federation with extreme skepticism as not being offered in good faith. Based on its unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine, we can only assume that Russia’s true goal in the ad hoc committee is to negotiate a legal instrument by which all other states abide, but which it will ignore. We call on all member states to do the same and remain clear-eyed about the true motivations at play here,” he added.

KN