BRYAN R. SMITH / AFP
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov leaves the room after addressing the Security Council meeting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations on September 22, 2022 in New York.
WAR IN UKRAINE – The scene says a lot about the climate of international tension. Unable to agree, the heads of American and Russian diplomacy accused each other on Thursday at the UN Security Council of impunity in Ukraineto the point of seeing the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov leave the hemicycle after his speech.
Speaking first, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the international community to compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to account for his invasion of Ukraine. “We can’t let President Putin get away with this”he declared, during this meeting convened by the French presidency of the Security Council and which had as its subject the situation in Ukraine and the“impunity” crimes committed since Russia invaded the country in February.
His Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, present in the Council room where he also made a speech, did not however sit at the same table as the other ministers to listen to their speeches, being replaced by a deputy.
Lavrov denounces “impunity” of kyiv and leaves
And as pointed out by Guardian, the head of Russian diplomacy obviously did not want to stay put. Arrived 90 minutes late at the meeting of the Security Council, Sergei Lavrov therefore surprised no one when he got up at the end of his speech to leave the room. A behavior that visibly inspired his British counterpart James Cleverly: “He left the hemicycle, I’m not surprised, I don’t think Mr. Lavrov wants to hear the collective condemnation of this council”.
“He has left the chamber, I’m not surprised, I don’t think Mr Lavrov wants to hear the collective condemnation of t… https://t.co/0kQV2Tne1B
—Sky News (@SkyNews)
Before this remarkable coup, the Russian minister had affirmed that “kyiv owes its impunity to its Western partners” in front of his counterparts, including the Ukrainian Dmytro Kouleba, during this special meeting. The Minister took advantage of the platform offered to him to launch a diatribe against “the totalitarian Nazi state” in place according to him in kyiv and the impunity of Ukraine for its actions since 2014.
“There is an attempt today to impose on us a completely different narrative speaking of Russian aggression as the cause of this tragedy”he argued, accusing Ukraine of “Russophobia”. Claiming that he had “no confidence” in the work of the International Criminal CourtLavrov also took the liberty of reaffirming the common sense of the invasion of Ukraine in February, a decision ” inevitable ” according to him.
For his part, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an investigation into the “catalogue of cruelties” taking place in Ukraine. A message shared by French diplomacy: “There is no peace without justice”assured the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonnanoting that officials should ” answer “ of their crimes.
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