UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister accused the United States on Tuesday of threatening the entire Western world with a “gun barrel” and obstructing international cooperation, a claim that Russia’s U.N. ambassador denounced as “hypocrisy.” They invaded neighboring Ukraine.
The target of criticism is Russia Russia is hosting a flagship event during its term as chair of the UN Security Council this month, choosing the theme “Multilateral cooperation for a fairer, democratic and sustainable world order.” Sergey Lavrovflew in from Moscow to chair the meeting.
Shortly before the meeting, Ukrainian U.N. Ambassador Sergey Kislitsa read a statement on behalf of about 50 countries, including the U.S. He was surrounded by dozens of U.N. envoys, including U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
The joint statement said the international community should not be distracted from Russia’s “flagrant violations” of Ukraine’s territorial integrity or from Moscow’s “cynical attempt to present itself as the guardian of the multilateral order.”
The countries condemned Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, North Korea’s military support for Moscow in violation of U.N. sanctions, and Iran’s violations when U.N. sanctions were in force.
“The Russian Federation’s continued illegal actions and blatant hypocrisy undermine multilateral and international cooperation” and “exacerbate regional tensions and endanger international peace and security,” the 50 countries said.
Unusually, no UN officials or outside experts briefed the Security Council.
Instead, Lavrov began the meeting by criticizing the United States for proclaiming “its own exceptionalism.”
“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others,” Lavrov said, referencing George Orwell’s famous novel “Animal Farm.”
He then continued his attack. NATO’s “reckless expansion” Russia said it would continue its military operations in Europe despite repeated warnings from Moscow, and that a “special military operation” in Ukraine had been launched to eliminate threats to Russian security.
Lavrov accused Washington of doing everything possible to “undermine” the world order “in order to contain Russia, China and other countries whose independent policies it sees as a challenge to its hegemony.”
“Americans are threatening the entire Western world with guns and escalating trade and economic wars with countries they don’t like,” he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov Russian President Putin’s terms bring peace to UkraineThese include accepting a multipolar world, eliminating corruption in the global economy, and reforming the United Nations, international financial institutions and other international organizations, which Kiev has rejected.
Responding to Lavrov’s 20-minute speech, Thomas-Greenfield said: “This read like a whining session about the US and the West, with barely any mention of global ‘multilateralism’, made me wonder if I was in the wrong room.”
“Russia continues to undermine trust in our institutions, deliberately and blatantly violating the core principles of the UN Charter: territorial integrity, respect for human rights and international cooperation,” she said.
Thomas-Greenfield rejected Lavrov’s “lip service to calls for cooperation” and called for action and change to ensure that the UN and the broader international system better reflects today’s world and the priorities of all countries, including developing countries.
“This is not to hold other countries back, as our Russian colleagues claim, but rather to help other countries grow,” she said, “to ensure that everyone plays by the rules and that the rules are fair to everyone, including developing countries that have been used and exploited by Russia for too long.”
More broadly, the British ambassador to the United Nations Barbara WoodwardThe Secretary-General told the Security Council that the challenges facing the world are “as severe” as those at the end of the Second World War, when the UN was founded.
She said the world is in a state where more countries are involved in conflict than at any time since World War II. Climate Crisis Advances in science and technology that all countries need to address.
“At the same time that you say you believe the world order could be more just, democratic and sustainable, Russian forces are systematically bombing Ukrainian civilians in an unprovoked war of aggression in flagrant violation of the UN Charter,” Woodward said in a statement to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.
“How is it just to seek to annex another country’s territory? How is it democratic to seek to subjugate another country’s people? How is it sustainable to wage a war that kills more than 500,000 of your own people?” she asked.
Woodward said the invasion of Ukraine was “a stark reminder of the kind of world order Russia really wants to live in – one where might is right and powerful nations can threaten and invade others with impunity.”
