The Russian Federation expected to send the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Alimov, who deals with affairs at the United Nations, to speak at the UN Security Council meeting on May 26, however, the US refused to give him a visa. China’s Wang Yi tried to intervene to secure a visa, but still the US refused. Russia’s alternative speaker, Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzya, said, “We view this not only as a breach by Washington of its obligations under the Headquarters Agreement, which stipulates that access to the UN headquarters must be granted to all officials of Member States without exception, but also as an egregious disrespect for China’s presidency of the Security Council and for the topic under discussion today, that is the UN Charter.”
Mr. Nebenzya said that Cold War tensions have passed, “but a global catastrophe is now much closer than ever before, as it is not only ubiquitous violations of the UN Charter that we are witnessing today, but also the questioning of the value of the Charter and the obligation to comply therewith. As a replacement, certain countries—mostly Western ones—are proposing a so-called ‘rules-based order,’ which they themselves have designed, portraying what they call ‘rules’ as universal.”
The representative warned, “Contempt for the UN Charter—which is the cornerstone document—has reached its peak today. Driven by the desire to preserve their dominance in the world, Western elites have shed any remaining qualms about using brute force to advance their political and economic interests…. With the help of organizations and media outlets under their control, they are diverting the international community’s attention away from the real root causes of conflicts, spawning ‘double standards’ and muddying the waters for those who wish to uphold the UN Charter in good faith.”
Mr. Nebenzya added, “What makes the UN Charter so unique is the fact that this is a document that vested all States with equal rights. It laid the groundwork for the United Nations to help peoples oppressed by colonialism to gain their independence and become the global majority. The UN Charter also proclaimed such goals as facilitating social and economic progress of all peoples without exception, as well as promoting respect for the dignity of all individuals…”
