Russia’s Permanent Representative, Vassily Nebenzia has strongly criticized the Council’s failure to respond to the Israeli assault on the Iranian consulate in Syria during a meeting of the council requested by Israel.
During an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council convened on Sunday, Russia urged for immediate measures to halt the ongoing bloodshed in the Middle East. Vassily Nebenzia in his address said that the constant attacks on Gaza and the endless violence perpetuated against the people of Palestine is the base of all the conflicts in the middle-eastern region.
He said that the Iranian retaliation was a result of the failure of UNSC to even issue a joint statement condemning the bombing of Iran’s embassy in Damascus.
He also said that Iran was within its right to self defence when it attacked Israel. “You know very well that an attack against diplomatic representation is a crime under International Law and if a western representation would have been hit, you would immediately have rained down reprisals and would have argued that you were right about this in this very chamber and this is because for you everything that has to do with the western representations,” he said while addressing the Security Council meet.
In his address, Russia’s permanent representative said that the Western Nations have turned a deaf ear towards the rest of the world. “For you, Western system is sacred and it needs to be protected, but when it comes to other countries, their right including right to self defense, about their nations is a different matter, as you would like to say. What happens then, is you activate your favourite argumentation about lack of information, you start doing legalistic care splitting, etc., and today the Security Council meeting we are witnessing is a display of hypocrisy and dual standards which is almost embarrassing to watch,” he told the Security Council.”
Israel has violated the decisions of the Security Council and it must be held accountable, he said, in his address. He said, “Many of you today did not find a courage to state clearly that the outburst of violence in the middle east because of the background is the Israeli operation in Palestine which is going on for over six months. It is unprecedented in terms of the causalities the Palestinians have suffered. This is despite the demand for ceasefire in Security Council in Resolutions 27, 28 to ceasefire immediately.”
He demanded an imposition of sanctions on Israel stating, “Israel is not complying with UNSC resolutions which is an open disregard shown to the council, to all the members, who are here in the chairs. Non-compliance of security council resolutions is not something, anyone should get away with as it is fraught with with sanctions against the violator.”
Here is what else Russia said
“When we met in this chamber on April 2 to discuss the Israel’s strike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, we warned that what was needed was a strong and unified signal by the council that such actions were unacceptable and not only against the sovereign states of Iran or Syria and not only in the middle east but anywhere in the world. We called on the colleagues of the Security Council to clearly and equivocally condemn such reckless steps to make sure that they do not get repeated. We also warned that otherwise risk of repeat the such acts and the general escalation of the region would increase manifold. We even proposed a draft press statement by the Security council and this was put together on the basis of standards and would it be here from the western delegation. The West said that for them not everything was clear and What was necessary to do was to see whether such a signal from the council would help stabilize the situation in the region. The United States, UK and the France essentially declined to confirm that the basic principles of International law about the applicability of diplomatic and consulate facilities which are enshrined in the Vienna conventions on this issue applied equally to all states. and the outcome is now clear for everyone to see.
Russia has warned on many occasions that many crisis in the middle east are unsettled, first and foremost in the area of Israel-Palestinian conflict which are frequently fuelled by irresponsible unilateral provocative acts. This will lead to a growth of tension in whole region. We have stated on many occasions that no country in the middle east or northern Africa should become an arena for regional or international confrontation or for settling political scores.
What happened on night of April 14 did not happen in a vacuum. The steps undertaken by Iran became a reaction to the shameful inaction by the Security Council. It was a reaction to a horrendous attack in Damascus and not the first one. Syria is being constantly bombed by Israel. Such silence about the deep root of the crisis is unacceptable because specially against the background of the tensions surrounding Iran, which is fueled by US and its colleagues and the fact that Israel is not complying with UNSC resolutions is an open disregard shown to the council, to all the members, who are here in the chairs. Non compliance os security council resolutions is not something, someone should get away with and it is fraught with with sanctions against the violator. Madam, President, We recall the tensions in the region in January 2020 when the region was on the brink of a conflict as a result of the illegal elimination of Qasim Soleimani and other Iranian officials by the United States, but Washington did not learn any lessons from that and as a result reckless acts undermining the security, stability, sovereignty of the regional neighbours of Iran are continuing.”