A senior Russian diplomat finally quit – three months after the war in Ukraine started.
Boris Bondarev, Russia’s counsellor to the United Nations in Geneva, said in his resignation letter Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is ‘the most serious crime against the people of Russia’.
It has led UN Watch to call for all other Russian diplomats of the United Nations, and worldwide, to follow Mr Bondarev’s example and resign.
Mr Bondarev has also served for the Russian Ministry of foreign affairs since 2002 and wrote about the increasing levels of corruption from within the Kremlin.
He said in a statement: ‘I regret to admit that over all these 20 years the level of lies and unprofessionalism in the work of the foreign ministry has been increasing all the time.
‘I simply cannot any longer share in this bloody, witless and absolutely needless ignominy.’
The former diplomat harked back to a period reminiscent of the 1930s Soviet Union.
He wrote: ‘Instead of unbiased information, impartial analysis and sober forecasting, there are propaganda clichés in the spirit of Soviet newspapers of the 1930s. A system has been built that deceives itself.
‘Minister Lavrov is a good illustration of the degradation of this system. In 18 years, he went from a professional and educated intellectual, whom many my colleagues held in such high esteem to a person who constantly broadcasts conflicting statements and threatens the world (that is Russia too!) with nuclear weapons.’
This is not the first time a Russian government official has resigned in protest over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Anatoly Chubais stepped down from his role as international envoy for Mr Putin at the end of March.
In what was seen as a critical gesture, he posted a picture of a murdered opposition figure after the war began in February before eventually resigning.
Mr Chubais had the role of coordinating Russia’s sustainable development goals internationally.
As well as government officials resigning, senior network journalists from Russia’s Channel One also took an early stand against the war.
This included Marina Ovsyannikova, who held up a poster saying ‘stop the war!’ during a news broadcast which was shown during prime-time viewing.
She told viewers they were being lied to by Mr Putin and the Kremlin regime.
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