Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter interviewed Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN, on his “Ask the Inspector” internet show on Friday, Nov. 22. Ritter began by mentioning that he had just appeared in a meeting (the International Peace Coalition in which John F. Kennedy’s statement from his June 10, 1963 “Peace” speech was quoted, that we must never put a nuclear-powered nation in the position of either capitulation or going to war—and yet that is where we are now, with both the U.S. and the Russian making that demand of the other.
Polyanskiy corrected Ritter, insisting that while the U.S. has made such a threat, Russia never has. He insisted that Russia has from the beginning offered treaties to end the conflict, even after the U.S. pulled out of the INF and other arms treaties. Ritter added that when Russia used the Oreshnik missile, it “broke my heart,” since this was a missile which had been eliminated by the INF treaty, which the U.S. destroyed.
Polyanskiy reviewed the offers made by the Russian side, all ignored by the West, including Boris Johnson ordering Ukraine to reject the peace deal with Russia in April 2022, and to fight to the death instead, to do damage to the Russian Federation. Ukraine is now losing, not because they are not getting the needed weapons from the West (no weapon will change the military situation), but because the Ukrainian people don’t want to fight—there are no volunteers. Biden’s switch, approving the use of long-range missiles into Russian territory, clearly went over the “red line” and brings us closer to war than the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. He said he hopes the U.S. will return to its senses, but if they choose confrontation, Russia is ready.
Ritter asked if the UN Russian team was filling in for the fact that there is no Russian Ambassador in Washington. Polyanskiy said no, that the Embassy is not closed—there is an acting Ambassador and we expect a new Ambassador to be appointed soon.
Polyanskiy closed with an appeal to America: Russia is not an enemy. Russians believe America is a great country with a great history, but it must be a “normal” country, and give up being the “world policeman.” We are part of Western culture; we only want what all countries want: that you respect us. If you ask a Russian, “Who won the Cold War?” they will answer that “Everyone did, we are all winners.” We need “collective wisdom” as shown by our collaboration in defeating Hitler. “It is time to adopt this vision. The world is waiting for us to do it.”
