Thursday

28th Mar 2024

US and Russia clash in ugly UN talks

  • Russia and China had said the UNSC meeting was not needed (Photo: DFATD | MAECD)
Listen to article

US and Russian envoys traded barbs at a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Monday (31 January) amid a warning that the mobilisation of troops in Europe was the largest in decades.

The US had called for the debate so that all protagonists in the new security crisis could air their views together for the first time.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

European UNSC members - France, Ireland, Norway, and the UK - rallied to the side of the US and Ukraine during the meeting.

But Russia and China had tried to block the event from taking place altogether, while India, Gabon, and Kenya abstained in a vote on whether it should go ahead.

"This is the largest, this is the largest - hear me clearly - mobilisation of troops in Europe in decades. And, as we speak, Russia is sending even more forces and arms to join them," the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said.

"And they [Russia] are attempting, without any factual basis, to paint Ukraine and Western countries as the aggressors to fabricate a pretext for attack," she added.

"This is as clear and consequential a threat to peace and security as anyone can imagine," she said.

"Russia's aggression today not only threatens Ukraine. It also threatens Europe. It threatens the international order," she also said.

But the Russian ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, claimed none of this was true.

"We are being asked to convene a Security Council meeting on unfounded accusations that we have refuted frequently," he said.

"They [the US] themselves are whipping up tensions and rhetoric and provoking escalation. You're waiting for it to happen as if you want to make your words become a reality," he added, addressing Thomas-Greenfield personally.

"Where did you get the figure of 100,000 troops that are deployed as you said on the Russian-Ukrainian border, although that is not the case? We have never cited that figure, we've never confirmed that figure," Nebenzya added.

The Chinese ambassador took Russia's side.

"The reason why the US was asking the Council to hold this open meeting was that Russia's deployment of troops along the Ukrainian border posed a threat to international peace and security. China cannot align itself with this point of view," China's Zhang Jun noted.

"Russia has repeatedly stated that it has no plans to launch any military action ... what is the basis for the country's [US] concern to insist that there may be a war?", Zhang added.

"What is urgently needed now is quiet diplomacy, not megaphone diplomacy," Zhang said.

But for his part, Ukraine's ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, rubbished the Russian claims.

"Lewis Carroll appears to be a favourite writer of the Russian top diplomats," Kyslytsya said, referring to the writer of fantasy novel Alice in Wonderland.

"We are well aware of Russia's history of ploys and provocations," he added.

Meanwhile, the Russian ambassador had pointedly left the room when his Ukrainian counterpart was speaking, after having earlier also called the Ukrainian government "pure Nazis."

And when Nebenzya came back, he clashed again with the US ambassador, after all the 15 countries in the meeting had spoken.

EU warns against Ukraine talks without Europe

The German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock warned in Washington that "it is out of the question, and let me make this very clear - there cannot be a decision on the security in Europe without Europe."

US and EU breaking taboos to restrain Israel

The US abstained and all EU states on the UN Security Council backed a call for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, as Europe prepares to also blacklist extremist Israeli settlers.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  2. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  3. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  4. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  5. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  6. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  7. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route
  8. 2024: A Space Odyssey — why the galaxy needs regulating

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us