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image source, Boris Bondarev
Boris Bondarev has resigned from his diplomatic position at the United Nations.
It is the largest defection – at least publicly – of a Russian diplomat since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In an unusual letter, Boris Bondarev, a veteran Russian representative to the United Nations, resigned from his post on Monday in protest against the war.
“During 20 years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but I have never felt as ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year (the day the invasion began),” he wrote.
In the resignation, the former diplomat described the war as “a crime against the Ukrainian people” and “the people of Russia” and sent a strong message to those who justify armed intervention.
In his opinion, those who conceived the war “only want one thing: stay in power foreverlive in pompous and tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage and cost to the entire Russian Navy, and enjoy unlimited power and total impunity.”
The Foreign Ministry and the Russian government have not yet responded to Bondarev’s resignation or his remarks.
However, the Kremlin has maintained a heavy-handed policy against critics of the war inside Russia and many journalists and activists have been forced into exile since the invasion began.
resignation
In the letter posted on social media and shared with other diplomats, Bondarev explained that he had chosen to end his 20-year career because he could no longer “share this bloody, foolish and absolutely unnecessary ignominy.”
Bondarev also criticized the Foreign Ministry and its current foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
According to him, the Ministry has become a place where “lies and lack of professionalism” prevail and pointed out that Lavrov went from being “a professional and educated intellectual” to a person who “constantly transmits contradictory statements and threatens the world [es decir, a Rusia también] with nuclear weapons!”
“Today at the Russian Foreign Ministry is not about diplomacy. It is about warmongering, lies and hate.”
Speaking to the BBC, Bondarev said he had “seen no other alternative” than to resign.
“Frankly, I don’t think it will change much, but I think it can be a small brick in the bigger wall that will eventually be built. I hope so,” he said.
Bondarev revealed that inside the Ministry, the invasion had initially been greeted by colleagues with “happiness, delight, euphoria” over the fact that Russia had “taken some radical steps.”
image source, Mariupol Now TG
“Now they are less happy about it, because we are facing some problems, first with the economy. But I don’t see many of them repenting and changing their minds.
Bondarev said he is aware that Moscow will now see him as a “traitor”, but notes that he has not “done anything illegal”.
“I just quit and spoke my mind. But I think I have to worry about my safety, of course.”he claimed.
Previously, critics of the government, opponents or people who served the Kremlin and later criticized it have died in mysterious circumstances or have been poisoned both in Russia and in different countries, including Germany and the United Kingdom.
an unusual review
Analysis by Steve Rosenberg, BBC Russia Editor
Diplomat Boris Bondarev did not hold back in his criticism of President Putin, Foreign Minister Lavrov and the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
“War of aggression… the most serious crime… warmongering, lies and hatred…”: it is rare to hear such words from a Russian official.
image source, Archyde.com
In the three months since Vladimir Putin launched what he still calls his “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine (what much of the world calls Russia’s war), there has been little sign of open dissent in Russian state institutions.
Is this embarrassing for the Russian authorities? Absolutely. They like to imply that the state machine here in Russia is fully behind President Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
But one resignation does not automatically mean many more to come.
Bondarev confessed to me that he is in the minority.
He believes that, for now, most Russian Foreign Ministry officials back the official line and support the Kremlin’s “special operation.”
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