Russia’s foreign minister Serget Lavrov took the UN General Assembly rostrum to deliver a fiery rebuke to western nations for what he termed a “grotesque” campaign against his country and its people.
However, no major nation has rallied behind Russia, including China, which had not long ago vowed an “unbreakable” bond with President Vladimir Putin.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, called on Russia and Ukraine to “keep the crisis from spilling over” and from affecting developing countries.
India also called for a negotiated end to the Ukraine war.
Speaking at the UNGA, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said – “India is on the side of peace and will remain firmly there”.
“We are on the side of those struggling to make ends meet, even as they stare at the escalating costs of food, of fuel and fertilizers. It is therefore in our collective interest to work constructively, both within the United Nations and outside, in finding an early resolution to this conflict,” Dr Jaishankar said.
The Minister also said – “As the Ukraine conflict continues to rage, we are often asked whose side are we on. And our answer, each time, is straight and honest. India is on the side of peace and will remain firmly there. We are on the side that respects the UN Charter and its founding principles. We are on the side that calls for dialogue and diplomacy as the only way out”.
Earlier this month Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly acknowledged Chinese “concerns” about Ukraine during a meeting with his counterpart, Xi Jinping.
Observers say, the US officials have been heartened by what they see as China’s lack of concrete backing for the war and said that Beijing has declined requests to send military equipment, forcing Russia to rely on North Korea and Iran as its own supplies dwindle.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, at a news conference declined to answer whether there has been any pressure from China. In his speech, he blamed squarely on the west.
“The official Russophobia in the west is unprecedented. Now the scope is grotesque,” he told the UNGA.
At the UNGA, the External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar has said India is firm on a “zero tolerance approach” to cross-border terrorism. Addressing the 77th high-level session of UN General Assembly in New York, he said India has borne the brunt of cross-border terrorism for decades. There is no justification for any act of terrorism, regardless of motivation, he said adding countries that defended proclaimed terrorists in the UN neither advanced their own interests nor their reputation.
The Russian Minister also said that the United States since the end of the cold war has acted as if it is “an envoy of God on Earth, with the sacred right to act with impunity wherever and whenever they want”.
He also blasted the European Union as an “authoritarian, harsh and a dictatorial entity”.
