Morocco expressed, on Saturday, its concern over the evolution of the situation between Russia and Ukraine, stressing its attachment to the principle of “non-use of force” in the settlement of disputes between States.
This is what emerged from the press release published by the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which expresses for the first time Rabat’s position vis-à-vis the Ukrainian crisis.
The press release indicates that “the Kingdom of Morocco follows with concern the evolution of the situation between Russia and Ukraine”.
“The Kingdom affirms its attachment to the principle of non-use of force for the settlement of disputes between States and encourages all initiatives and actions promoting the peaceful settlement of disputes”, according to the same source.
Morocco affirmed, according to the press release, “its support for the territorial integrity and national unity of all United Nations member states”.
The positions of the Arab countries vis-à-vis the Russian military intervention in Ukraine diverge: Egypt, Qatar, Libya, Jordan, Kuwait, and Tunisia called on the parties to the conflict for calm, restraint, and favor dialogue. Lebanon meanwhile called on Moscow to withdraw its forces immediately, while the United Arab Emirates demanded de-escalation and an end to “hostile acts” in Ukraine.
Thursday at dawn, Russia had launched a military operation in Ukraine. The Russian intervention provoked angry reactions in several countries around the world which called for tougher sanctions against Moscow.
The Donbas crisis and Russia’s military intervention
In 2014, following popular protests that rocked Ukraine, the Head of State Viktor Yanukovych fled the country, giving way to a pro-Western government. The ensuing crisis saw Russia invade Crimea and illegally annex this Ukrainian territory, then support the independence claims of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, mainly Russian-speaking.
Deadly clashes triggered in the wake of the unilateral proclamation of the independence of the two Ukrainian regions, had then opposed the separatist forces supported by Russia and the army of Kyiv.
With diplomacy regaining the initiative in 2014 and 2015, Kyiv’s backers in the West brokered a ceasefire agreement with Moscow, known as the Minsk Accords, which although served to defuse the crisis, been marked by numerous violations of this truce, costing the lives of some 14,000 Ukrainians on both sides.
When Russia began deploying tens of thousands of troops along the border regions with Ukraine in late 2021, the United States and its Western allies claimed that Moscow was preparing to invade Ukraine. , threatening Vladimir Putin with heavy sanctions if he were to undermine the sovereignty of Ukraine and its territorial integrity.
Moscow, which has constantly denied any attempt to invade the former Soviet republic, nevertheless decided to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, then, on February 24, to launch a military intervention on the Ukrainian territory to, in the words of Vladimir Putin, defend the populations threatened with “genocide by Kyiv” and “liberate Ukraine from Nazism and militarism, thereby calling on the Ukrainian army to lay down its arms.
