The United States expelled 12 Russian diplomats who worked in the UN from the country: Ukraine is trying to prove that Russia is not a member of this organization at all

The United States has asked 12 Russian United Nations diplomats to leave the US, accusing them of "espionage activities" as Russia continues its advance into Ukraine, reports CNN.

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The Russian diplomats were asked to leave due to their alleged involvement in "activities that were inconsistent with their duties and obligations as diplomats," US Deputy Representative to the UN Ambassador Richard Mills said during a meeting of the UN Security Council on Feb. 28 afternoon.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya responded by saying that Mills' explanation of the expulsion was "unsatisfactory".

The expulsion of the diplomats was announced less than a week after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, although the US said the move had been in the making for months. Last week, the US expelled the second-ranking diplomat from the Russian embassy in response to Moscow's expulsion of the second-ranking US diplomat in Moscow earlier in the year. The State Department announced the expulsion hours after Moscow began bombing and invading Ukraine.

The US Mission to the UN also said that 12 Russian diplomats were "intelligence operatives ... who abused their privileges of residence in the US by engaging in espionage activities that are detrimental to our national security."

"Today's actions have been in the making for months," US mission spokeswoman Olivia Alair Dalton said in a statement.

On the subject: The United States and France urged their citizens to immediately leave Russia

Nebenzya first announced the expulsion during a previous UN press briefing on February 28 in the afternoon. He said he did not know which 12 diplomats were among those asked to leave the country, but said US officials visited the Russian mission to the UN and delivered a letter demanding they leave the country by March 7.

“I have just received information that the US authorities have taken another hostile action against the Russian Mission to the UN, grossly violating their obligations under the agreement with the host country, which they assumed,” Nebenzya told reporters. “They just visited the Russian mission and gave us a note ordering us to do what they demand.”

Boycott Russia

On February 28, the UN General Assembly held a special session at which it considered the issue of Russia's large-scale military aggression against Ukraine.

The Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Serhiy Kyslitsa made an official statement. It spoke of Russia's lack of rights to be a member of the UN at all. Zaxid.

“Putin has done everything possible to delegitimize Russia's presence at the UN. But I think Russia’s presence in the UN was even legitimate? I wonder if there has ever been a vote within these walls on Russia’s accession to the UN? December 1991 or January 1992 or sometime? Let me ask the delegates - which countries voted for the Russian Federation to join the UN? Please raise your hands. Confirm that Russia has been admitted to the UN. (None of the delegates raised their hand - ed.). I’ll leave you with this, think about it while listening to the words of the Russian representative,” said Sergei Kislitsa.

And on March 1, during the broadcast of a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a UN conference, a number of Western delegations staged a boycott and left the hall, reports Rambler.

After the broadcast began, diplomats from a “large number” of countries hurried to leave the hall. At the same time, outside the hall the demarche was greeted with applause. Delegations from Yemen, Algeria, Venezuela, Syria and Tunisia remained to listen to the Russian minister.

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The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called the diplomats who boycotted Lavrov "hypocrites and bigots." According to her, such a boycott has never been arranged for Ukraine “whose regime killed civilians in the Donbass.”

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