The German foreign minister accuses Russia of “brazen lies”.
(Photo: Reuters)
new York In an emotional speech at the UN General Assembly, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on the countries of the world to sharply condemn Russia. The Green politician had traveled to New York personally for this. “Today we all have to choose between peace and aggression, between justice and the will of the strongest, between acting and looking the other way,” said the Green politician on Tuesday evening at the United Nations emergency meeting in New York.
The Security Council had previously declared itself unable to act and therefore called the General Assembly against Russia’s veto to condemn Russia for the invasion with a resolution.
It is the first time that the General Assembly has been convened because of a war in Europe and because Russia has abused its veto power in the UN Security Council, Baerbock told journalists before her speech. “In a war-for-peace situation, you have to make a choice between siding with the aggressor or with families, with children hiding in subway tunnels from bombs and missile attacks ‘ she said there.
Before the UN body, Baerbock spoke of Moscow’s “brazen lies”: “You say you are acting in self-defense. But the whole world watched as you built up your troops for months to prepare for this attack.” And while Russia insists that it wants to protect the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine, the whole world sees that the Kremlin chief’s troops Vladimir Putin bombed homes of Russian-speaking Ukrainians.
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Addressing Foreign Minister Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov, Baerbock said: “You can fool yourself. But you will not fool us. And they will not deceive their own people.”
A total of 193 countries are members of the UN. Supporters of the resolution against Russia hope to get at least 100 countries to condemn Russia. That was the number of votes that invalidated the result of a 2014 referendum in Crimea. This is only the eleventh emergency meeting in more than 70 years.
The vote on the resolution on Ukraine is scheduled for Wednesday. “When we go home after our vote, each of us will have to sit across the kitchen table from our children, our partners, our friends, our families. Then each of us must look them in the eye and tell them the choice we made.”
It is about nothing less than the life and death of the Ukrainian population, the security of Europe and the United Nations Charter.
In addition to Baerbock, Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Robert Habeck was also in the USA on Tuesday. He met several government officials in Washington. “The situation in Ukraine determines everything,” he said there. He called the attacks on civilians “absolutely despicable”. That will “certainly not lead to the West becoming soft.”
According to Habeck, he wanted to strengthen the transatlantic relationship with his visit. In Washington he praised the newly found trust between the USA and Germany and the transatlantic “momentum”.
With material from dpa
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