Russia Tells UN: Jewish President of Ukraine Leads ‘Pure Nazis’

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held a session on the Russia-Ukraine situation on Thursday, as requested by the United States. The belligerent Russian delegation turned the meeting into a shouting match, at one point accusing the U.S. of putting “nationalists, radicals, Russophobes, and pure Nazis” in charge of Ukraine after the Russia-friendly government was overthrown in a 2014 popular revolt.

The current president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Ukraine’s first Jewish chief executive.

Russia attempted to block the UNSC from holding the special session on Thursday. When that failed, the Russian delegation took a confrontational approach, accusing the U.S. of “whipping up tensions and rhetoric,” interfering in Russia’s internal affairs, and practicing “megaphone democracy.”

“This isn’t just unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of our state, it’s also an attempt to mislead the international community about the true situation in the region and the reasons for the current global tensions,” charged Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya.

Nebenzya said the U.N. has not confirmed American estimates of Russia’s military buildup along the Ukrainian border. He told American Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield her administration appears to be hoping for war between Russia and Ukraine.

“You are almost pulling for this,” he said to Thomas-Greenfield. “You want it to happen. You’re waiting for it to happen, as if you want to make your words become a reality.”

Nebenzya compared the situation to the United States falsely claiming Iraq had weapons of mass destruction to justify its 2003 invasion, darkly muttering that “what happened to that country is known to us all.”

Thomas-Greenfield responded by describing Russia’s buildup on the Ukrainian border as “the largest mobilization” Europe has seen in decades, accompanied by a surge of cyberattacks and information warfare. Zelensky himself has contradicted this assessment, telling reporters the Russian border buildup in 2021 was not significantly different from today’s.

“They are attempting, without any factual basis, to paint Ukraine and Western countries as the aggressors to fabricate a pretext for attack,” she said of the Russians.

“The situation we are facing in Europe is urgent and dangerous. Russia’s actions strike at the very heart of the U.N. charter,” she argued.

“We continue to hope Russia chooses the path of diplomacy over the path of conflict in Ukraine. But we cannot just ‘wait and see.’ It is crucial that this Council address the risk that their aggressive and destabilizing behavior poses across the globe,” she said.

The UNSC session ended after about two hours without producing any resolutions, as expected. Nebenzia made a point of leaving before Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya had a chance to speak.

“How long Russia will pressure, will pursue a clear attempt to push Ukraine and its partners into a Kafka trap?” Kyslytsa asked when it was his turn to address the session.

Kyslytsa noted that despite Nebenzia’s effort to portray the Russian force on the border as smaller and less threatening than widely believed, Ukraine believes there are now almost 130,000 Russian troops in position to invade by land, air, and sea. A significant number of Russian combat troops are already positioned inside the Donbas conflict zone, where Ukraine has been fighting Russia-backed separatists.

“The question is why all these Russian forces are there?” he said, challenging Nebenzia’s attempt to downplay the Russian mobilization.

The Ukrainian ambassador pointed to the same cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns noted by Thomas-Greenfield, calling them “direct evidence of Russia’s unwillingness to de-escalate and prepare to justify its possible further aggression.”

Kyslytsya said threats of force by Russia should not be allowed to influence whether Ukraine joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or other international bodies.

“There is no room for compromise on principal issues. The most principled position for Ukraine is that we have an inherent sovereign right to choose our own security arrangements, including treaties of alliance, which cannot be questioned by Russia,” he said.

A few hours after the UNSC session concluded, sources in the Biden administration told the Associated Press that Russia sent a written response to the latest U.S. proposal to de-escalate the Ukraine crisis. The State Department refused to discuss the contents of the letter, saying it would be “unproductive to negotiate in public.”

Soon after news of the Russian letter leaked, the Kremlin said it was a “mix-up” regarding a “different matter,” and Moscow’s formal response to the U.S. de-escalation proposal is “still being prepared.”