On Friday morning, as hundreds of Russian trucks trundled across the
border into Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly
Churkin gave a briefing
to explain why Moscow was sending the convoy without permission from
the government in Kiev.
The decision had caused such panic in the West that an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council had been scheduled Friday afternoon to discuss what Ukraine called a “direct invasion.” Churkin batted these concerns away, and only once gave a hint as to convoy’s larger purpose.
The telling moment came in response to a question from Voice of America, whose correspondent asked Churkin about the claim that the trucks were being used to resupply pro-Russian rebels fighting against government forces in Ukraine. “With baby food?,” Churkin countered. In Russia’s version of the story, the trucks are loaded with humanitarian aid, nothing more dangerous than power generators, buckwheat and medicine. But Churkin wasn’t finished. “You are from Voice of America,” he told the reporter, who began to say her press affiliation is irrelevant. “Please, wait for me to say the next thing,” Churkin interjected. “The United States do not have monopoly to humanism, you know? We are all human. So if you are trying to question our humanism, I would resent that.”
Read more: Russia Lashes Out At U.S. ‘Monopoly’ on Humanitarianism With Aid Convoy to Ukraine | TIME
The decision had caused such panic in the West that an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council had been scheduled Friday afternoon to discuss what Ukraine called a “direct invasion.” Churkin batted these concerns away, and only once gave a hint as to convoy’s larger purpose.
The telling moment came in response to a question from Voice of America, whose correspondent asked Churkin about the claim that the trucks were being used to resupply pro-Russian rebels fighting against government forces in Ukraine. “With baby food?,” Churkin countered. In Russia’s version of the story, the trucks are loaded with humanitarian aid, nothing more dangerous than power generators, buckwheat and medicine. But Churkin wasn’t finished. “You are from Voice of America,” he told the reporter, who began to say her press affiliation is irrelevant. “Please, wait for me to say the next thing,” Churkin interjected. “The United States do not have monopoly to humanism, you know? We are all human. So if you are trying to question our humanism, I would resent that.”
The following day, when all the trucks packed up and drove back
across the border into Russia, it became clear that breaking the West’s
“monopoly on humanism” (Churkin meant to say “humanitarianism”) had a
lot to do with the convoy’s objectives from the start. It was not meant
to resupply the rebels in Ukraine; Russia has been doing that
for months without resorting to elaborate diversions and decoys. Nor
was the convoy’s sole mission to deliver aid, as many of the trucks were
mostly empty.
It was rather meant to show that Russia, much like the West, now claims
the right to violate the sovereignty of another nation on humanitarian
grounds, and there’s not much anyone can do to stop it.
Read more: Russia Lashes Out At U.S. ‘Monopoly’ on Humanitarianism With Aid Convoy to Ukraine | TIME
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