Boris Bondarev, a diplomat with Russia’s UN delegation in Geneva, wrote in a letter that he was resigning. The reason is the war against Ukraine, reports Hillel Neuer, lead independent watchdog UN Watch, about Indonesia.

Bondarev confirmed at 3 pm to the news agency AP which he pulled. The top diplomat stated that he had submitted his resignation to Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations to Geneva.

Bondarev is the most senior Russian diplomat to jump since the invasion of Ukraine began, writes UN Watch in an article.

Call rejected

– During my 20-year career as a diplomat, I have seen various manifestations of our foreign policy, but have never felt as ashamed of my country as on February 24 this year. Putin’s aggressive war against Ukraine, and in practice throughout the Western world, was not only a crime against the Ukrainian people, but also perhaps the most serious crime ever committed against the Russian people. With a bold Z, all our hopes and future prospects for a prosperous free society in our country have been erased, Bondarev wrote in the letter.

Dagbladet has tried to contact the Russian UN delegation in Geneva to confirm information about Bondarev’s departure. The call was rejected.

– Unfortunately, I can neither confirm nor deny this information. This is a matter of concern to Russian authorities, and media questions about whether it should be directed to the Russian delegation, Alessandra Vellucci, UN information director in Geneva, answered Dagbladet’s question.

– Boris Bondarev is a hero. We now urge all other Russian diplomats at the UN – and around the world – to follow his moral example and step down, Neuer said at UN Watch in the article.

Longer time out

In the letter, Bondarev reaches out to people he believes are behind the war, and whom he accuses of profiting from.

– Those who created this war, only want one thing – to stay in power forever, live in luxurious tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage with the entire Russian Navy, and enjoy unlimited power and total impunity. To achieve this, they are willing to sacrifice as many lives as needed. Thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have died as a result, the letter said.

The diplomat cited Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as “a good illustration of weathering in the system.”

Over the course of 18 years, he went from being a professional and well-educated intellectual, held in high esteem by many of my colleagues, to someone who constantly sent contradictory statements and threatened the world (including Russia) with nuclear weapons. ! wrote Bondarev, who according to the letter has worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry since 2002 and has been a member of the Geneva delegation since 2019.

– I studied to be a diplomat and have been a diplomat for twenty years. Ministry has become my home and my family’s. But I can no longer take part in this bloody, headless and utterly baseless disgrace, Bondarev wrote.