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US calls Russia's UN meeting on global cooperation 'hypocrisy' after Ukraine invasion

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US calls Russia's UN meeting on global cooperation 'hypocrisy' after Ukraine invasion
A general view of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Jan. 23, 2024 in New York, United States. (Arda Kucukkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Russia’s foreign minister on July 16 accused the United States of holding the entire West "at gunpoint" and obstructing international cooperation, a claim the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations denounced as "hypocrisy" from a country that invaded Ukraine.

The exchange took place during Russia’s showcase event as the current president of the U.N. Security Council, focusing on "Multilateral cooperation for a more just, democratic, and sustainable world order." Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, flew in from Moscow to preside over the meeting.

Prior to the meeting, Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, read a statement on behalf of about 50 countries, including the United States, with several dozen U.N. envoys surrounding him. The joint statement asserted that the international community must not be distracted from Russia’s "flagrant violations" of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and from Moscow’s "cynical attempt to present itself as the guardian of the multilateral order."

"The Russian Federation’s continued illegal actions and blatant hypocrisy undermine multilateral and international cooperation, exacerbate regional tensions, and endanger international peace and security," read the statement.

In an unusual move, no U.N. official or outside expert briefed the Security Council.

Instead, Sergey Lavrov opened the meeting by criticizing the U.S. for declaring "its own exceptionalism." Quoting George Orwell’s famous novel "Animal Farm," Lavrov said: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."

In response to Lavrov’s 20-minute speech, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield noted: "I thought I was in the wrong room because this seemed to be a session whining about the United States and the West, and I hardly heard the word ‘multilateralism’ mentioned."

She added, "As we speak, Russia continues to erode confidence in our institutions, while willfully and flagrantly violating the core tenets of the United Nations Charter: territorial integrity, respect for human rights, international cooperation."

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Editor’s note: This story was sponsored by Common Sense Communications, a Ukrainian non-profit organization specializing in pro-democracy strategic communications. One of their ongoing projects is “Voices of Civilian Hostages,” which aims to attract the world’s attention to the issue of Russia’s ill…
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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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