The United States has announced the expulsion of 12 Russian diplomats The united nations for espionage, while Washington is stepping up pressure on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.
Details of the expulsion surfaced in a theatrical style when Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations halted a news conference.
“Could you just give me a second, because I have to answer that call, please,” he said.
Vasily Nebenzia ended the conversation and told reporters that he had “just received information that the US authorities had taken another hostile action against the Russian mission to … the UN.”
He said 12 people had been declared persona non grata and told to leave by March 7th.
But White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki undermined the dramatic performance, saying the move had been “working for months”.
“The United States has informed the United Nations and the Russian mission to the United Nations that we are beginning the process of expelling 12 Russian intelligence agents who have abused their privileges to reside in the United States by engaging in espionage activities that are detrimental to our national security. “, she said.
“Would you allow me just a second, because I have to answer this call, please,” Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said moments after the start of a press conference at UN headquarters.
After the talks ended, he accused the United States of hostile action, declaring 12 members of Russia’s UN mission “persona non grata” and saying they would leave by March 7.
A White House spokesman said the 12 were intelligence operatives who abused their position to engage in “espionage activities that are detrimental to our national security.”
Nebenzia raised the issue again at the beginning of the UN Security Council meeting to discuss the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. He said it violated America’s role as host of UN headquarters in New York
U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills responded: “These diplomats who were asked to leave the United States have been engaged in activities that are not in line with their responsibilities and duties as diplomats.”
This happened during a busy day of international diplomacy, the fifth day of Russian forces entering Ukraine.
Ukrainian and Russian officials held talks on the border with Belarus, but left without a decision.
President Joe Biden spent more than an hour talking confidently with allies and partners discussing how to increase pressure on Russia.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, said three-quarters of about 160,000 Russian troops gathered around Ukraine have not entered the country as Moscow tries to overcome fierce Ukrainian resistance.
A spokesman said Russia seemed intent on encircling the capital Kyiv.
The West’s response was to impose harsh sanctions on Russia and to provide military equipment to Ukraine.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is among the sanctioned figures, warned of consequences for anyone who sends weapons
Ruins are burning in the Donetsk region of Ukraine in an area controlled by pro-Russian rebels
War in Ukraine, day 5: Russian forces are now trying to bypass Kyiv and encircle it from the west. Troops fighting the Crimea continue to succeed and are likely to surround Mariupol soon, while reaching the outskirts of a key Ukrainian nuclear power plant. Fighting in the east continues to be heavy, with no breakthrough for Putin
The General Assembly of 193 countries is expected to vote this week on a draft resolution calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops. However, his decisions are not binding
He said “those who deliver deadly weapons to Ukraine will be held accountable,” according to Interfax.
The White House ignored it, saying it was working to speed up the delivery of weapons approved in a $ 350 million package by President Joe Biden on Friday.
“We expect the equipment to start arriving in the next few days from this package, which has brought the common security systems we have approved for Ukraine to $ 1 billion in the last year,” Psaki said.
The package includes small arms, ammunition and bulletproof vests, as well as tank-destroying Javelin missiles, which have proved essential for Ukraine’s defense.
“We are also working with NATO allies to facilitate the transfer of our manufactured equipment from their stockpiles to Ukraine,” Psaki said.
Earlier, the UN General Assembly of 193 countries met in an emergency session on Ukraine.
A draft resolution calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops will be voted on this week.
The Ambassador of Ukraine c The united nations read what he said were the latest text messages from a Russian soldier to his mother – describing his horror of the unfolding war before he was killed.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, Sergei Kislitsya, read the latest text messages from a Russian soldier to his mother on Monday, describing his horror of the unfolding war before he was killed.
People pass burnt cars the day after a shelling of a residential area in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The country is on its fifth day of fighting since Russia’s invasion on Thursday
Sergei Kislitsa helped take a screenshot of the texts while making a powerful request for help.
“Mom, I’m not in Crimea anymore,” they began. “I’m not training.”
His mother asks, “Where are you then? Dad asks me if I can send you a package.
“What kind of shipment, Mom, can you send me,” he replies
‘What you mean? What happened?’
“Mom, I’m in Ukraine,” he replies before describing the horror unfolding.
“A real war is raging here. I’m afraid. We are bombing all the cities together, even whole civilians.
“We were told that they would meet us and they fell under our armored vehicles, threw themselves under the wheels and did not allow us to pass.
“They call us fascists. mom. It’s so hard.
Kislica ended the exchange by saying that the last message was sent “moments” before the soldier was killed.
Message details cannot be checked immediately.
But Kislitsa went on to compare Russia’s actions with those of Nazi Germany, describing a militarized state invading a smaller neighbor and deadly air strikes against civilians.
Firefighters deal with a house fire after the recent shelling in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, as the conflict rages for five days
“Very clear parallels can be drawn with the beginning of World War II,” he said.
“And Russia’s way of working is very similar to what their Third Reich spiritual mentors used on Ukrainian soil eight years ago.”
In 2014, Moscow annexed Crimea, beginning eight years of clashes in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass.
Kislitsa continued his comparison, mocking President Vladimir Putin’s decision to put Russia’s nuclear forces on alert
“If he wants to commit suicide, he doesn’t have to use a nuclear arsenal, he has to do what the man in Berlin did in a bunker in 1945,” he said, referring to Hitler’s suicide.
Kislytsia ended his appeal with a warning that the international order depends on Ukraine’s survival.
“If Ukraine does not survive … international peace will not survive,” he said.
“If Ukraine does not survive, the UN will not survive.
– Do not make illusions. If Ukraine does not survive, we cannot be surprised if democracy then fails. “