UN Security Council meets at Russia's request

Photo: Reuters

Opening the meeting, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia stressed that “Russophobia” is taking place throughout Ukraine: “There is a Russophobia that is raging throughout Ukraine. There are many manifestations of this. I have already mentioned some of them, from opposing Russian books, to vandalizing monuments and geographical names related to Russia. There is a crackdown on people who speak Russian, sing in Russian, read news in Russian or send text messages in Russian. Many innocent people have suffered and even died because of this.”

The Russian ambassador said that Moscow proposed the session because of the threat to international peace and security posed by false information about Russia. The Russian delegation stressed that a lasting and stable peace in Europe cannot be built on such false information. The Russian representative also rejected accusations that Russia is hindering efforts to find peace in the conflict in Ukraine.

However, at the meeting, representatives of Ukraine and Western countries said that what is happening is not “Russophobia”. The countries accused Russia of finding a pretext for the special military operation that Moscow launched last year on Ukrainian territory and this is unacceptable.

Meanwhile, the representative of Mozambique, which holds the presidency of the Security Council for the month of March, warned that the use of inflammatory language by the parties would only escalate the current conflict and make the prospects for peace even more fragile.

Chinese Deputy Head of the Delegation Geng Shuang also called on the international community to end prejudice, stressing that all parties can build “a new international relations environment based on mutual respect, fairness and win-win cooperation.”

Geng Shuang also touched on the issue of smearing China’s image similar to what Russia is facing: “I would like to take this opportunity to point out that at present, politicians in some countries seem to have succumbed to xenophobia. They are full of prejudice and paranoia about China peddling worries and provoking tensions. Such xenophobia is a misunderstanding of China, a strategic misjudgment and political manipulation. Any such policy will only reinforce a zero-sum game mentality, perpetuate the policy of containment and suppression and lead to conflict and confrontation.”

Mr. Geng Shuang affirmed that the Chinese Government is willing to play an active role in cooling down the conflict in Ukraine, urging the international community to support resolving this conflict by peaceful means.

Russia currently supports China’s view of resolving the conflict through peaceful means. However, according to the latest statement by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, any peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict must take into account the current “new reality” – referring to the newly annexed territories to Russia.

According to VOV