As an adviser to Russia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, he said in a published letter that he had “never been so ashamed” of his country.
A Geneva-based Russian diplomat opposed to the war in Ukraine has announced his resignation with a bang, saying in a published letter that he has “never been so ashamed” of his country, according to several consistent sources.
Boris Bondarev, adviser to the Permanent Mission of Russia to the United Nations office, emailed fellow diplomats to announce his decision, which was revealed by the NGO UN Watch and confirmed by several diplomatic sources. “In the 20 years of my diplomatic career I have seen various turns in our foreign policy, but never have I been as ashamed of my country as I was on February 24 this year,” writes Boris Bondarev when Russia invaded Ukraine.
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Boris Bondarev – whose name appears well in the official register of diplomats at the United Nations in Geneva – says he has worked at Russia’s foreign ministry since 2002 and on the shores of Lake Geneva since 2019. “The war of aggression against Ukraine, and indeed against the Western world, unleashed by Putin is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people, but perhaps the most serious crime against the Russian people, with a bold letter Z crossing out all our hopes and prospects for a free and prosperous society in our country”, we can read in this letter issued by the Netherlands Ambassador for Disarmament, Robert Gabrielse, accompanied by a “Courageous !”.
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This resignation, which according to several sources is not the first by a Russian diplomat for the same reasons but is undoubtedly the most public, should encourage other colleagues to follow suit, stressed UN Watch director Hillel Neuer. “The US, UK and EU should take the lead in the free world and create a program to encourage more Russian diplomats to defect, by providing those diplomats and their families with protection and financial security, and a place to settle down settle down,” he added.
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