U.N. chief and West berate Russia's top diplomat over Ukraine

The United Nations chief and representatives from Western nations berated Russia’s top diplomat as he chaired a U.N. meeting

The United Nations chief and representatives from Western nations berated Russia’s top diplomat as he chaired a U.N. meeting Monday, accusing Moscow of violating the U.N. Charter by attacking Ukraine and occupying part of its territory.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded by defending his country’s military action and accusing the U.S. and its allies of undercutting global diplomacy, the foundation of the United Nations, which was created to prevent a third world war.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called cooperation among the U.N.’s 193 member nations the organization’s “beating heart” and “guiding vision,” and he warned the Security Council that global collaboration is under the greatest strain since the creation of the United Nations in 1945 on the ashes of World War II.

Tensions between major powers are at a “historic high” and so are the risks of conflict “through misadventure or miscalculation,” he said, pointing first and foremost to the war in Ukraine.

The U.N. secretary-general and the ambassadors of the U.S., Britain, France and their allies all pointed to the U.N. Charter’s underlying principle requiring all countries to support the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every nation — which Russia violated by invading its smaller neighbor on February 24, 2022, and illegally annexing several regions.

Russia convened the ministerial meeting on making “multilateralism” — when countries work together — more effective through the defense of the U.N. Charter, calling it the high point of its month-long presidency of the Security Council. It has been the most contentious presidency in the memory of longtime U.N. diplomats and officials, and Monday’s meeting added to the antagonism.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called Russia a “hypocritical convener” of the meeting whose “illegal, unprovoked and unnecessary” war in Ukraine “struck at the heart of the U.N. Charter and all that we hold dear.”