World sobering up on Ukraine conflict – Moscow
A more rational attitude is forming around the globe towards the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Moscow’s permanent representative to the United Nations has said.
The work of Russian diplomats at the UN to highlight the “hypocrisy and double standards” of the US and its allies in relation to the Ukraine crisis is delivering results, Vassily Nebenzia stated in an interview with RIA Novosti news agency on Friday.
"We are witnessing a much more sober assessment of what is happening, being formed within the international community,” he noted.
The Russian envoy stressed that “it is becoming increasingly difficult for Western anti-Russian propaganda to intoxicate the UN majority, especially when the Ukrainian agenda is being imposed on it at the expense of addressing much more important and pressing issues for the developing world.”
Nebenzia’s statement comes a day before a Swiss-hosted ‘peace conference’ on Ukraine, expected to discuss proposals promoted by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. Russia was not invited to the gathering.
Switzerland announced last week that it had invited representatives of 160 states and international organizations to the summit at the Burgenstock Resort near Lucerne, and that more than 90 would be attending. However, US state-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on Tuesday that the number of participating nations had declined to 78.
Nebenzia said the West has been “twisting the arms” of Global South countries to come to Switzerland, only for them to play the role of “extras” there.
According to the envoy, countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America are needed at the gathering to ensure there are as many faces as possible in the family photo. This will be presented by the US and its allies as “the broadest support” of Zelensky’s plan within the international community, he predicted.
The Swiss-hosted conference is another “deception” by the US and its allies, as “its main goal is to present an ultimatum to Russia in the form of the so-called Zelensky’s ‘peace plan,’” Nebenzia argued.
The Ukrainian leader’s proposals, which call for the withdrawal of Russian forces from all territories that Kiev considers its own, and for Moscow to pay reparations and submit its officials to war tribunals, was instantly rejected as “unrealistic” by Russia when it was first floated in late 2022.
"It is no secret to anybody that peace negotiations without Russia are a road to nowhere. Without our participation, it would be impossible to resolve the conflict,” the envoy stated.
