Russia Warns UN Coercive Measures Hinder International Law

Vasili Nebenzia said that the imposition of these measures also affects cooperation and human rights.

The representative of Russia to the United Nations (UN), Vasili Nebenzia, joined on Thursday in rejecting coercive and unilateral measures imposed by the United States (US) against several countries, claiming that they hinder international law.

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This debate in a special session devoted to unilateral coercive measures was promoted by the Group of Friends of the Charter of the United Nations, an initiative that was supported by the diplomat.

In his address, Nebenzia said that the imposition of these measures by Western countries hinders “international law, cooperation and human rights” and puts world peace at risk.

“These are practices that kill people, depriving them of the goods they need most,” said the senior official.

In addition, he pointed out that the objectives of coercive measures are “all those countries that apply a foreign and domestic policy independent of that of Western countries”.

“They want to achieve financial, technological, commercial isolation, (as well), undermine their growth prospects, inflict damage to undermine the domestic political situation and create preconditions for external control of sovereign resources (and even) overthrow their governments,” Nebenzia stressed.

These measures, the official said, supposedly stem from the West’s international obligations. He recalled that “the right to impose coercive measures is reserved solely and exclusively for the Security Council”.

At the same time, he added that there is nothing to indicate that, in the face of non-compliance by a State, Western countries have the right to “abuse its position of global financial hegemony to interfere in the trade of other States or seize its sovereign assets”.

“There is no legal basis, only an order based on rules that the West changes on the fly and at the convenience of its own interests,” he insisted.

Meanwhile, the Russian representative described as “particularly repugnant” the United States attempts, which, in addition to the blockade against Cuba, accuse the country of being an accomplice to terrorism. “A country that during the Covid provided aid to the whole world by sending medical brigades and sanitary equipment, and has also carried out mediations in negotiations between the parties in Colombia,” he recalled.

Nebenzia, on behalf of Russia, demanded that the U.S. lift the blockade against Cuba and remove the island from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

The diplomat also referred to the situation in Syria, which also suffers from American measures and that its natural resources are being looted by the government of the American country.

Finally, the official detailed the new initiatives of organizations such as the Brics (Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa) that seek to eliminate dollar dependencies and that will achieve “build bridges and not build walls”.