Alwaght- Russia has denied reports of blocking a UN Security Council condemnation of the recent North Korean missile launch.
In a statement, Russia’s United Nations mission has clarified has also condemned the leakage of the document and media misinterpretation of internal UN conversations.
The claim that Russia allegedly “blocked” the draft Security Council statement was reported earlier on Thursday by Reuters, which cited unnamed diplomats who leaked an internal email conversation between Russian representatives to the UN and their “Security Council colleagues.”
“The rationale is that based on our (Ministry of Defense’s) assessment [that] we cannot confirm that the missile can be classified as an ICBM,” the email reads as cited by Reuters. “Therefore we are not in a position to agree to this classification on behalf of the whole council since there is no consensus on this issue.”
The office of the Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations has confirmed the authenticity of the leaked conversation, adding, that it indeed could not agree with the text classifying the projectile fired by Pyongyang earlier this week as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), as data provided by Russia’s Defense Ministry indicated that it was likely a mid-range ballistic missile.
“Based on this information, Russia has proposed the US, as authors of the initiative, to make certain amendments to it,” the statement reads.
The leaked email exchange, Russia stressed, was a part of a routine negotiation over a document, and therefore could not be described as “blocking.”
“We’d like to stress that it was a regular process of negotiation a Security Council document, which, as far as we know, was not interrupted by anybody. So saying that Russia 'blocked' the adoption of the statement would be bending the truth,” the statement reads.
Russian representatives, however, strongly condemned the leak of internal UN correspondence to the media.
“Citing such documents in open sources is at the very least perplexing,” the statement reads. “Unfortunately, we again witness how disgraceful steps of certain UNSC members, who resort to deliberate leaks, undermine the decades-old culture of cooperation within the UN Security Council.”
Following the Russian UN mission’s complaint, Reuters quietly amended the article to read that Moscow “objects” instead of “blocks” the US-drafted statement.
