EU Ambassadors, including Italy, raise up against Russia’s “cynical” self appointment as UN values defender

NEW YORK, APRIL 24 – It is “cynical” that Russia presents itself as a UN defender: this position was expressed today by the European Union’s Ambassadors at the United Nations ahead a meeting convened by Moscow on multilateralism and the UN Charter.

“By organizing this debate Russia is trying to portray itself as a defender of the UN Charter and multilateralism. Nothing can be further from the truth. It is cynical. We all know that while Russia is destroying, we are building. While they violate, we protect. The UN Charter, the UN General Assembly, the ICJ, the ICC – everywhere you look Russia is in contempt”, said the Permanent Representative of the European Union, Ambassador, Olof Skoog, on behalf of Member States, including Italy.

Surrounded by other Permanent Representatives, including the Italy’s Maurizio Massari, Skoog spoke before the meeting chaired by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, with whom the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, opening the meeting, was very hard: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the UN Charter and international law, is causing enormous suffering and devastation to that Country and its people”.

“We face unprecedented and interlocking crises,” Guterres said in his briefing at the Council’s ministerial-level open debate on effective multilateralism through the defence of the principles of the UN Charter. “Tensions between major powers are at an historic high, so are the risks of conflict, through misadventure or miscalculation. It is time to deepen cooperation and to strengthen multilateral institutions, to find common solutions to common challenges.”

To do so, he called on Member States to comply with their obligations, use existing tools to peacefully resolve disputes, and fill gaps in global governance to deliver on the Charter’s promises. Security Council members, particularly those serving permanently (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States), have a responsibility to “make multilateralism work, rather than contribute to its dismemberment”, he said.

At the outset of the meeting, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia, which holds the Council presidency in April, drew attention to the meeting’s concept note, which states that some stakeholders are “undertaking attempts to preserve the unipolar world order, by imposing the ‘might is right’ principle and trying to replace universal norms of international law with a ‘rules-based order’”.

“We have reached a dangerous threshold,” Mr. Lavrov said, speaking in his national capacity. “Double standards need to be abandoned. Advancing the West’s rules on the international arena is asphyxiating multilateralism. The key to success is concerted efforts.” (@OnuItalia)