Russian diplomat in Switzerland announces resignation over Ukraine invasion
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GENEVA, May 23 (Reuters) – A Russian diplomat at the country’s permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva said on Monday he would quit his post over his disagreement with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, a rare political resignation during the war.
Boris Bondarev, posing on LinkedIn as an adviser to Russia’s permanent mission to the United Nations working on arms control, told Reuters: “I went to the mission like any other Monday morning and forwarded my resignation letter and left. “
“I started imagining this a few years ago, but the scale of this disaster drove me to it,” he said, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24.
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He said he had expressed his concerns about the invasion several times to senior embassy officials. “I’ve been told to shut up to avoid consequences,” he said.
There was initially no comment from the permanent representation of Russia at the United Nations.
He previously announced his departure on LinkedIn.
“I studied diplomat and have been a diplomat for twenty years,” wrote Bondarev. “The (Russian Foreign) Ministry has become my home and family.
Ukraine asked Russian diplomats to resign in a debate at the Human Rights Council in March. However, Bondarev said he did not expect others to follow suit. “I’m afraid I’m the only one.”
Kira Jarmysh, spokeswoman for jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, welcomed the resignation.
“It seems there is only one honest man in the State Department,” she wrote on Twitter.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what it described as a special operation to weaken its southern neighbor’s military capabilities and root out people it described as dangerous nationalists.
The West has imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Russia and has provided Ukraine with military support in response.
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Reporting by Reuters
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