Russian President Vladimir Putin’s diplomat to the UN in Geneva reportedly resigned over Russia’s actions in the Russia-Ukraine war, saying he was “ashamed” of his country.
“For 20 years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on Feb. 24 of this year,” Boris Bondarev said in his resignation letter, according to Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch. Bondarev was referring to the date that Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine.
BREAKING: 🇷🇺 Russia’s Counsellor to the United Nations in Geneva has resigned.
Boris Bondarev: “Never have I been so ashamed of my country.”
UN Watch is now calling on all other Russian diplomats at the United Nations—and worldwide—to follow his moral example and resign.
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 23, 2022
“The aggressive war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine and in fact against the entire Western world is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people but also, perhaps, the most serious crime against the people of Russia,” he added. (RELATED: Russians Describe How They Are Escaping The Harshest Media Crackdown In The Country’s Recent History)
The resignation email was confirmed by several diplomats in Geneva, The New York Times reported. He is the most high-profile diplomat in Russia to resign over the war, according to the outlet.
Bondarev said “thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have died” for those in Russia who launched the war to “remain in power forever” and “live in pompous tasteless places,” and that the “lies and unprofessionalism” in the Russian Foreign Ministry have been increasing over the years and have recently been “catastrophic.”
“Today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not about diplomacy. It is all about warmongering, lies and hatred,” he continued.
He also mentioned Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, calling him “a good illustration of the degradation of this system.”
“I simply cannot any longer share in this bloody, witless and absolutely needless ignominy,” Bondarev concluded.