NEW YORK/OSLO (VG) With Ukraine in attendance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday that allegations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine are Western propaganda. Then he left the room before the meeting ended.
The Security Council meets Thursday evening to discuss the war in Ukraine.
– I will maintain a safe social distance, said Dmytro Kuleba.
The question asked by the media outside the UN Security Council chamber was how he got inside with Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister.
Kuleba was invited to give a lecture – with Russia as a listener, among others.
The West is a party to the conflict
When the meeting began, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin was temporarily seated in Russia’s place on the council, but when it was Russia’s turn to speak, Lavrov was in his place. He entered the hall about an hour after the meeting began.
He has used his time to speak out to claim, among other things, that Russians and Russian speakers in Ukraine have been denied their rights for years. Among other things, he said, they refused to use their language through “obscene language laws.”
– At the same time, laws were introduced supporting Nazi theories, the Russian foreign minister said, repeating Russia’s allegations that Ukraine was ruled by neo-Nazis.
The Russian foreign minister was also clear about what Russia believes about the West’s support for Ukraine, including through the supply of arms:
This policy means the direct intervention of the West and making it a party to the conflict.
left the meeting
Furthermore, he claimed that the allegations of Russian war crimes were untrue.
– They are part of the propaganda, said Lavrov, who left the hall shortly after giving his speech.
– I’m not surprised. “I don’t think Lavrov wants to hear the collective condemnation of this council,” said British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who spoke shortly after Lavrov.
He cleverly described most of what his Russian colleague said as a lie.
Store: – He knows what he’s doing
Prime Minister Jonas Gare Stoer was in the hall himself, sitting in front of Lavrov in the hall. He believes that Lavrov’s behavior speaks volumes about the situation in Russia.
– I think it shows that Russia stands alone in justifying this war.
– Does he act like a child?
– No, this is the behavior of one of the most experienced diplomats in the world. He knows what he’s doing. But choosing your time this way doesn’t give the impression of much security, Støre answers VG’s question.
The prime minister said he experienced it as Lavrov “automating a long line of allegations” and mentioning, among other things, repeating the Nazis in Ukraine.
– Then I noticed that he hardly mentioned the proposal for referendums and annexation of territories. He did not mention anything about the mobilization of soldiers announced by Putin. I thought that was noteworthy.
Kuleba with a message to Russia
When I gave the floor to Dmytro Kuleba, he was worried that Russia would know one thing:
– They won’t be able to kill us all.
He believes that most Russians do not really want this war, while most Ukrainians want to defend their country. Kuleba notes that thousands of Ukrainians returned home when Russia launched its invasion, while thousands of Russians left their homeland after Putin this week announced a new mobilization of soldiers.
“Today, all Ukrainians are ready to defend Ukraine,” Kuleba said, calling on the international community to hold Russia responsible for its actions in Ukraine.
Cruelty Catalog
Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan of the International Criminal Court opened the meeting, telling the Security Council about the careful work of recovering bodies from mass graves – and documenting war crimes.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an investigation into human rights crimes in the war.
– Guterres said that reports from the United Nations show a list of atrocities – summary executions, sexual violence, torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment of civilians and prisoners of war.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store himself delivered Norway’s speech today.
“If we have a chance, we’ll exchange some opinions, and then I don’t think it will be a surprise to him what I’m going to say,” Store told VG before the Security Council session.
Støre calls the allegations lies
During his address shortly thereafter, he referred to Putin’s speech on Wednesday and the president’s claim of a military threat to Russia from the West.
– I am speaking on behalf of Norway, which is a European country, a member of NATO and a neighbor of Russia. Let me say it as clearly as possible: these claims are simply not true.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in his post that the world could not sit back and watch Vladimir Putin “rip apart” the international system, and, among other things, asks all members of the Security Council to send a clear message to Putin that threats to use nuclear weapons must stop immediately.
At the same time, he notes that he believes the unity among other UN members is surprisingly good when it comes to the war in Ukraine.
Even countries that have maintained a close relationship with Russia are asking serious questions about Putin’s invasion, says Blinken.
dramatic development
The background of the meeting is a dramatic development in the war in Ukraine in recent weeks – and some intense days past.
Ukrainian forces rushed forward in early September and liberated large areas in the east. There, after the Russians fled, they discovered mass graves with more than 400 dumped bodies.
Russia attempted to respond to the military collapse by declaring referendums in the occupied territories – so that attacks on territories declared as Russia could be countered with weapons from NATO countries with escalation.
Yesterday, Putin gave a speech in which he talked about nuclear weapons and announced the mobilization of 300,000 Russians to war.
Protests broke out and a thousand were arrested.
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