Russian ambassador to UN refutes Ukrainian president’s assertions

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin on Monday refuted the assertions by the Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, that the Russian diplomats had allegedly tried to impede his country’s election to the position of a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council. “I’m obliged to refute the assertion that President Poroshenko made in an interview with Ukrainian televisions channels on October 18 by saying the Russian representatives had been working actively to prevent Ukraine’s election to the position of a nonpermanent member,” he said. “Had we really done this work, the result (of the election) would have been radically different.”

Churkin said the Ukrainian diplomats in New York should have stayed away from misinforming their President. Along with it, he expressed the hope the Ukrainian side would eventually learn to assess the activities of Russian diplomats, including the ones working in New York, properly.

Ukraine was elected a nonpermanent member of the Security Council for the years 2016/2017 along with Egypt, Senegal, Uruguay, and Japan upon the results of voting at the UN General Assembly. It got 177 votes, with fourteen abstentions, while having no competitors in its regional group.
President Poroshenko portrayed the election as an extremely important diplomatic victory when he spoke to Ukrainian channels.

“In the first place, this confirmed global support for Ukraine, since Russia did all in its power to prevent the UN member-states from voting and thus denying Ukraine a seat on the Security Council,” the presidential website quoted him.