UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN
By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW (AA) - Kyiv's initiative to deprive Moscow of UN Security Council permanent membership and to exclude it from the UN is built on a "completely perverted logic," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Following this logic, a conclusion may be drawn that all decisions of the UN Security Council starting from the dissolution of the Soviet Union are illegitimate, Maria Zakharova told a news conference in Moscow.
"The logic is completely perverted. Then, following this logic, we can assume that all the decisions that were taken in the Security Council from the moment when the Soviet Union disappeared, and Russia rightfully took its place, are illegitimate from the point of view of Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, or what? Well, if our presence there is illegitimate, then the decisions are illegitimate?" she said.
Zakharova added that "it's like reading some fiction," and "has nothing to do with international law, reality, or diplomacy."
On Monday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued an official statement suggesting that Russia be deprived of its UN Security Council permanent membership status and be excluded from the international organization.
About Kyiv's accusations that Moscow’s actions on the front line contradict its calls for peace, Zakharova recalled that Ukraine ensured at the legislative level the impossibility of talks with Russia.
On Oct. 4, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree, prohibiting any kind of peace talks with Moscow as long as Vladimir Putin continues to serve as Russia's president.
On Monday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would like to hold a peace summit on the UN platform in February, and that Russia may take part only with "complete capitulation."
About Kuleba's remarks, Zakharova said Moscow sees it as "such a delusional idea" and as another PR campaign by Washington, which has recently been "trying to present Kyiv in the image of a peacemaker."
The spokeswoman also slammed Kyiv's crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, calling it a "raider seizure" under external influence.
"This grossly violates the laws of Ukraine itself and international documents in the field of freedom of conscience and religion, deepen the split in Ukrainian society and Orthodoxy. Such actions once again demonstrate the indifference of the Kyiv regime to the feelings of millions of believers," she stressed.
Zakharova also criticized Ukraine's veto on a resolution about cooperation between the UN and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, saying it was done by political motives.
Turning to the appointment of the new US ambassador to Russia, Zakharova said Russia holds "a traditional view" of the work of ambassadors, and expects from Lynne Tracy, approved by the US Senate for the position of the country's envoy to Russia, "desire, ability and possibility to work constructively and contribute to fixing ties with Moscow."
Asked about a meeting of the Russian and Turkish foreign ministers, Zakharova said she currently has no information to share.
Zakharova said amendments to Moldova's Criminal Code, introducing the notion of separatism, may complicate the settlement with the Transnistria region, adding: "We expect that the Moldovan side will once again weigh the added value of this step in the context of the Transnistrian settlement process."
The spokeswoman rejected Armenia's discontent over the work of the Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh, emphasizing that public reproaches will not change a thing.
"There were worse situations, working to improve this situation," she said.
To Yerevan's call on Russia to "stand by Armenia and defend its sovereignty," Zakharova said if Armenia means help of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the member states would be ready to send a monitoring mission to the Lachin corridor.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have seen this month a new escalation over the Lachin corridor, a route connecting Armenia to the Caucasus territory of Karabakh, with Yerevan, accusing Baku of blocking the passage.
Azerbaijani non-governmental organizations at the Lachin corridor have been protesting the “illegal exploitation of natural resources” and other illegal activities by Armenia, but they have not “closed” or blocked the corridor, according to Azerbaijan.