International organizations don't have leverage to guarantee Azovstal fighters’ safety - Rozenko

He noted this in a comment to Espreso TV.

Therefore, he considers it inappropriate to accuse the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross of not complying with the guarantees regarding the defenders of Mariupol. Moreover, says Rozenko, no one says for sure what and how the international organizations should be guaranteed. And in general, did they undertake any guarantees?

"What does the word "guarantees" mean? These are obligations of the parties that must perform certain actions (or refrain from certain actions) for a certain period of time. You can say anything on TV, telling beautiful stories and setting up any political accents, but guarantees are primarily a document with obligations of the parties. And Ukrainian society today has no information about whether the UN and the ICRC actually undertook any obligations. We hear words - mostly words of politicians or experts close to one or another political force. First of all, I would like to see facts, and not engage in politics", Rozenko said. 

As an example, he cites the "grain agreements" in Istanbul, where the parties reached an agreement by making the signed agreements public.

"UN Secretary General Guterres flew to Istanbul, and there was an independent mediator - Turkish President Erdogan. Ukraine and Russia signed a public document that clearly defined who and what obligations are assumed, as well as who guarantees the fulfillment of these obligations.  Moreover, then the document about these grain agreements and these guarantees was published in the mass media. Therefore, today we clearly know and understand that the document exists, guarantees are provided. Now we see that some parties fulfill the guarantee, some do not - it is clear to whom claims can be made", the vice-president of the Red Cross of Ukraine explained. 

On the other hand, in the case of guarantees for Azov fighters, Rozenko says, officials do not offer any specifics, limiting themselves to general phrases about guarantees.

"Even when someone says that 'they took guarantees', questions immediately arise. What guarantees? What do they consist of? What exactly did the UN or the ICRC have to do to ensure the fulfillment of these guarantees? And I just get the impression that  someone just wants (knowingly or unknowingly) to justify Russia in this whole story. Because in fact, if you take international humanitarian law, the Geneva Convention, which deals with the treatment of prisoners of war, it is clearly written and defined there who guarantees life, health and proper conditions of accommodation for prisoners of war. It is not the UN, the Red Cross or other international organizations. Responsibility is assumed exclusively by the party that captured these servicemen. Trying to find someone else who allegedly gave guarantees is an attempt to remove responsibility from the Russian Federation. A third party, whoever it may be, cannot guarantee life, health and normal conditions of stay in the prison, in the territory that it does not control, to which international organizations do not have access", Pavlo Rozenko emphasized.