UN Security Council: Lavrov will not be present for a while. Hearing on the impeachment inquiry against Biden next week

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov initially stayed away from the long-awaited meeting of the UN Security Council. So far, only Russia’s UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya attended the seat of the representative from Moscow in New York on Wednesday. According to information from the DPA, Lavrov is expected to deliver the speech before his country.

The United Nations’ most powerful body met on the sidelines of the general debate in the UN General Assembly. Russia’s military aggression is the focus of meetings taking place this week at the opening of the 78th UN General Assembly in New York. In addition to a top line-up with a number of heads of state and government and foreign ministers, there was great anticipation whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj would meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the first time since the start of the elections. war.

Ukraine peace plan “interesting, but not good enough”

Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis is also participating in the UN Security Council meeting. He described the peace plan that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj wanted to present to the Security Council on Wednesday as an “interesting approach”. However, a peace plan that both parties do not agree with is not good enough.

‘One-sided peace plans cannot go far through violence alone. And we don’t want this conflict to become an even bigger war,” Cassis told media representatives in New York on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs took part in a meeting on the International Criminal Court, where the crime of aggression was discussed. Switzerland welcomes the idea of ​​a special tribunal for Ukraine, Cassis said.

Russia cannot prevent Zelensky’s early speech

Russia tried unsuccessfully to prevent Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from giving an early speech to the UN Security Council. UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said in New York on Wednesday that there is no reason to let the Ukrainian president speak first and turn the meeting into a “one-man stand-up show.”

The current chairman of the Security Council, Albanian Edi Rama, has rejected this. As a result, there was an exchange of blows between Nebensha and Rama, with Rama saying, among other things, “Can we continue the meeting normally now with your permission?” Zelensky had recently arrived at the council. He sat down at the round table opposite Nebensja.

Zelenskyi complained at the UN Security Council meeting that the United Nations was powerless. They responded to problems with “rhetoric” rather than “real solutions,” Zelensky said. “Humanity no longer places its hope in the UN when it comes to defending the sovereign borders of nations.” Zelensky also criticized that Russia’s veto had led the United Nations to a dead end. The UN General Assembly should be given the power to override such a veto.

Zelenskyj calls for a system to prevent aggression

Zelensky has called for a United Nations system that can respond early to attacks on the sovereignty of other states. “It is time for the nations of the world to agree on such a mechanism for responding to aggression to protect others, which everyone would want for their own security,” Zelensky said in his speech, delivered in Ukrainian, according to the official English translation. .

The Russian invasion of Ukraine showed what benefits such a mechanism could have and what effects strong sanctions against an aggressor could have – at the stage of building the invading army. “Anyone who wants to start a war should, before he makes his fatal mistake, consider what exactly he will lose if the war were to start.” The issue of applying such preventive sanctions should automatically be submitted to the UN Security Council for consideration if a member of the UN General Assembly reports a threat of aggression, the Ukrainian said.

(lst/sda/dpa)