MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay's FM condemns use of force in Ukraine and calls for diplomatic channels to be resumed

The Foreign Ministry asked that the conflict be settled “by peaceful means” and condemned military operations by Russia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRREE) of Uruguay called on Thursday for the parties involved in the conflict unleashed after Russia's attack on Ukraine “to return to the path of negotiations, to full compliance with the Minsk agreements” and to “resolve the current conflict of interests through diplomatic channels”.

In a press release issued hours after the Uruguayan President, Luis Lacalle Pou, arrived in the country after a visit to Dubai and expressed his opinion on the situation that left at least 40 people dead on Ukrainian territory in the first hours of the day. The President recalled that Uruguay is a country that “always bets for peace”.

The Foreign Ministry reiterated that “Uruguay states that such actions are clearly in violation of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and reiterates that Russia must respect the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine”. It further “stresses that the members” of the UN “shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered.”

Article 2 of the UN Charter states that UN members “shall refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations,” MRREE noted in the press release issued Thursday afternoon.

This is the second missive issued by the Ministry this day on the subject, after informing that the Uruguayan embassy in Romania, which covers Ukraine, maintains a group of Uruguayans who remain in the Slavic country and that four Uruguayans who were residing in Ukraine have already left that country and are now in the Republic of Cyprus.