On September 17, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held another “ambassadorial round table” on the topic “The Ukrainian Crisis. Compliance with the Goals and Principles of the UN Charter.” He didn’t say anything new – just the same cynical mix of fakes and old accusations against Ukraine and the West. Once again, Russia tried to justify its war against Ukraine with everything from twisted interpretations of the UN Charter to outright lies like “the West sponsored a coup in Kyiv,” “Ukraine failed to comply with the Minsk Agreements,” “Ukraine bombed civilians in Donbas,” and so on. All of this, of course, comes against the backdrop of a complete denial of Russian war crimes in Ukraine and Moscow’s overall aggressive policies.
Yet among all this smoke and mirrors, one point is worth highlighting:
“Presently, five or six senior official posts, including those of the Secretary-General and his deputies, who are directly responsible for political affairs concerning conflict resolution, peacekeeping operations, humanitarian issues, security matters, and proposals for UN reform ahead of its 80th anniversary, all these pivotal roles are occupied by NATO member states. The First Deputy Secretary-General of the UN is a distinguished woman. She represents Nigeria yet simultaneously holds US citizenship. Draw your own conclusions. We will relentlessly pursue an end to this practice, whereby the West has subjugated all levers of control within the UN Secretariat. We will insist on restoring the world Organisation’s role as a platform for forging reasonable compromises and balancing the interests of all members of the international community”.
It’s also worth noting that in this speech Lavrov personally attacked UN Secretary-General António Guterres, accusing him of refusing to implement the UN Charter and of discrediting the organization itself, essentially claiming he is not an independent figure. These accusations are based, for example, on Lavrov’s cynical denial – shared by his superiors – of the mass killings of civilians carried out by Russian troops in occupied Bucha, and on Russia’s demand that the UN adopt Moscow’s version of events.
In short, Russia’s top diplomat openly declared to the global diplomatic community that the Kremlin, with the help of its allies, intends to reshape the UN to serve its own interests. Lavrov went on to promote initiatives aimed at whitewashing Moscow’s expansionist policies through the participation of BRICS countries, as well as drawing in states from the “Global South and East.”
Russia’s long-term strategy is to establish as many puppet regimes as possible in Africa and Asia, and then use their votes in international organizations to push the Kremlin’s agenda. In the near future, we can expect even greater involvement of Russia’s existing Asian and African allies in obstructing
