Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s top diplomat at the United Nations, said the protest dismissal of a Russian foreign officer is a “very brave act”, but he remains disappointed that so few Russian diplomats have spoken out.
“On the one hand, I can say it was a very brave act,” Kyslytsya told DailyExpertNews’s Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. “On the other hand, I’d say I’m disappointed.”
“We are very disappointed in the course of three months and given the number of Russian foreign service, only one case is known of a person who has dignity and moral standards to speak out against evil,” Kyslytsya said.
Boris Bondarev, a 20-year veteran in Russia’s diplomatic service, announced his resignation Monday in protest at his country’s war against Ukraine by posting a statement on a LinkedIn account. In the post, he criticized the Russian Foreign Ministry for participating in an “aggressive war” – language banned in Russia under war censorship laws.
Kyslytsya said Russian diplomats who are still complicit in Russia’s war against Ukraine will ultimately be held accountable for their actions.
“Every week, at least once or twice, I have to meet Russian diplomats in the Security Council. It’s so hard because you can’t believe people can talk those lies out so bluntly. But you know, like I said in one of the first meetings, lying and lying and lying is basically making sure they have the best place in hell for them, if I may,” he said.
“I think anything they say in the Security Council can and will be used in a tribunal that will be set up. There will be no end to this story until all of them, including the Russian diplomats, are held accountable,” he said.
Kyslytsya drew a parallel between today’s Russian diplomats and the eventual fate of Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi Germany’s foreign minister between 1938 and 1945. Von Ribbentrop was found guilty and sentenced to death at the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal after the second World War.
“When Ribbentrop denied his knowledge of concentration camps, he was convicted at the end of the day. We all know what happened to him,” the ambassador said.
