Zelenskyy And Russian Foreign Minister Avoid Each Other In UN General Assembly Session

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov walked to the room of East Asia's 18th Summit in Jakarta, Thursday (7/9/2023). BETWEEN PHOTOS/Media Centers of the ASEAN 2023 Summit/Zabur Karuru/foc. (ANTARA PHOTO/ZABUR KARU)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov avoided being in the same room as the two attended the United Nations Security Council (DK PBB) session in New York.

Zelenskyy, who first appeared in person in the Security Council courtroom in New York since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, called for the revocation of Russian veto rights as one of the five permanent members of the council.

Zelenskyy also urged the Security Council to be reformed to address "the plant", as reported by ANTARA from Kyodo-OANA, Thursday, September 21.

He stressed that the composition of the five permanent members of the UN DK - which also consists of Britain, China, France, and the United States - does not reflect the current reality of the world.

As Zelenskyy said the Security Council could not help stop the war "because all efforts were vetoed by the aggressor," the Russian delegation was present in the room, but without Lavrov.

Zelenskyy proposed that the membership status of a country in the Security Council should be suspended for a certain period of time when the country is a country that violates the UN Charter.

Zelenskyy, who left the room before Lavrov appeared, assessed that the composition of the countries in UN's DK was unfair so that the council's membership was extended to embrace more countries, such as India and Japan.

The open debate of the UN General Assembly was attended by foreign leaders and ministers, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Kishida, who sits next to Zelenskyy, also urged reforms of the UN Security Council to expand state representation within the agency.

"The Security Council must be expanded, both for permanent and permanent membership, to further reflect the reality of today's world, including Africa," Kishida said.

Lavrov entered the room about two hours after the debate began. In his speech, he made a long statement confirming Russia's actions against Ukraine.

Lavrov accused the United States and other Western countries of interfering in their internal affairs, claiming that Russia had fulfilled its obligations in the UN Charter.

He said the West had selectively abused the norms and principles of the United Nations Charter in an effort to meet its geopolitical interests.

Just before Lavrov's speech, Blinken first got his turn to deliver his statement.

He stressed Russia had "destroyed key principles" of all international rules for more than a year and a half.

"It's hard to imagine a country showing insult to the United Nations... and this is done by a country that has permanent seats in this council," Blinken said.