140 Diplomats Walk Out of UN as Russian Diplomat Defends Invasion of Ukraine

Over 140 diplomats walked out of the United Nations General Assembly as a Russian official attempted to defend his country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The diplomats walked out during a prerecorded message from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that played on screen on Tuesday after the U.N. called an emergency session on Monday.

“The world is turning its back to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov at the United Nations. We are turning our face to President Zelensky of Ukraine now in the plenary of the European Parliament,” tweeted European Parliament member Siegfried Muresan.

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Lavrov appeared via a prerecorded message due to Europe’s ban on flights from Russia, which blocked access to Geneva. The foreign minister repeated several Russian lies about Ukraine, including allegations that Ukraine “made territorial claims against the Russian Federation, threatened to use force and acquire a military nuclear capability.”

Lavrov also echoed statements made by Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Joe Biden, who both conceded that “nuclear war cannot be won and should never be fought” during a July 2021 Geneva summit. Lavrov also advocated for the United States to pull its 100 nuclear weapons out of Europe.

NATO and the European Union’s “hysteria,” Lavrov alleged, only affirms that “it was and still is the aim of the U.S. and all its allies built by Washington to create an ‘anti-Russia.'”

The U.N. began a rare emergency special session of the entire General Assembly on Monday. The session was called after the U.S. and Albania requested that the assembly convene in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The 15-member Security Council approved the emergency session, with 11 in favor, three abstentions, and a single vote from Russia against it.

The assembly has been notably tense amid the emergency session. Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador encouraged Putin to “kill himself” like Hitler did “in the bunker” if he wanted to pursue the use of nuclear weapons. The same ambassador later read aloud the final texts from a Russian soldier to his mother before he died.

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The U.S. announced on Monday that it was beginning the process of expelling 12 “intelligence operatives” from the Russian Mission to the U.N. due to national security concerns.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to address the Human Rights Council on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the European Parliament around the same time as the U.N.’s emergency session, asking the EU to provide more support to his country.