The remote speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov received a cool reception at the Geneva Peace Forum. The participants of the meeting marched out before the start of Lavrov’s share.
A UN-sponsored disarmament conference in Switzerland on Tuesday saw an outing of diplomats from many countries. Diplomats refused to listen when the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was about to begin his video call.
In his speech, Lavrov accused the Ukrainian leadership of the crisis between the two countries and claimed that Ukraine was trying to acquire nuclear weapons. After the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Ukraine retained a large number of nuclear weapons. However, Ukraine agreed to give up what good it was supposed to get strong security guarantees from Russia, the United States and several other countries.
“I can assure you that Russia, as a responsible member of the international community … will take all necessary steps to prevent the emergence of nuclear weapons and related technologies in Ukraine,” Lavrov said in a video message he now heard in Geneva. According to Reuters, Lavrov also called on the United States to withdraw all its nuclear weapons from Europe.