War in Ukraine: pass of arms between Lavrov and the rest of the Security Council at the UN
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the UN on September 22, 2022. Getty Images via AFP - MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
This Thursday, the UN Security Council met to discuss the Ukrainian file.
The opportunity for Russia to make its voice heard, after the numerous condemnations, since Monday, at the podium of the UN General Assembly.
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With our special correspondent in New York,
Christophe Paget
From the outset, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who intervened first, attacked Vladimir Putin and
the war he is waging in Ukraine.
"
We can't let President Putin get away with it
," he declared at the meeting of
the UN
Security Council , the subject of which was the situation in Ukraine and the "
impunity
" of the crimes committed since Russia invaded the country in February.
His Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, wanted to return to the theme of impunity against Ukraine.
“
Since 2014, extremist, Russophobic and neo-Nazi national forces have seized power in Ukraine through a coup.
The Ukrainian army and nationalist fighters kill residents of Donbass with impunity.
The ICC did not react to any of these crimes
,” he said, adding that Kyiv owed “
its impunity to its Western partners
.”
► To read also: At the UN, Emmanuel Macron calls to take a stand against Russia
A speech immediately condemned by the representative of the United Kingdom James Clevery.
“
I have just heard a new catalog of dishonesty and disinformation
”, he scolded in front of Sergei Lavrov present in the room, but voluntarily installed at another table, away from the other representatives.
“
He has just left, I am not surprised: I do not think that Mr. Lavrov wants to hear the collective condemnation of this Council
”, reacted James Clevery.
Sergei Lavrov also rejected the work of the International Criminal Court in which Russia “
has no confidence
”.
A declaration which earned the head of Russian diplomacy a reminder from Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court: "
Wherever crimes are denounced and where the Court has jurisdiction, whoever uses a weapon, who throws a missile, must realize that accounts must be rendered
".
“
If we are united around these basic principles, the law will have a considerable role for peace and security in Ukraine, but also in so many other regions of the world
”, he concluded.
► To read also: Putin wants to "annihilate Ukraine's right to exist", says Biden at the UN
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