Russia hit out at the United States after its veto Friday of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with its diplomat accusing Washington of being “complicit in Israel’s brutal massacre” in a statement to the council following the vote.
“Our American colleagues have condemned thousands – if not tens of thousands – more civilians in Palestine and Israel, including women and children, to death, along with the UN workers who are trying to help them,” said the Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky.
“One can say many beautiful but empty words about democracy, human rights, peace, security, some rules and order, but today, we learned the true value of these words as two members of the UN Security Council preferred to remain complicit in Israel’s brutal massacre,” the diplomat said, in an apparent allusion to the US and the UK, which abstained from voting.
Russia was among 13 countries that voted in favor of the draft resolution on Gaza, which demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages as well as humanitarian access to the strip.
Russia has repeatedly vetoed UN Security Council draft resolutions calling for the end of its on-going attack on Ukraine.
Friday’s vote followed mounting international pressure for an end to the fighting in Gaza and more aid for the enclave, where the UN has said the humanitarian support system is on the edge of collapse.
After the vote, the US said the resolution was “divorced from reality,” and “would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat” the attacks it committed against Israel on October 7.
More reaction: The United Arab Emirates, which tabled the resolution, condemned the council’s inability to demand a ceasefire, asking: “What is the message we are sending Palestinians if we cannot unite behind a call to halt the relentless bombardment of Gaza?”
China expressed its “great disappointment and regret” that the US vetoed the draft, with its UN envoy saying “any negative attitude” toward a ceasefire was “untenable” and justification against it “remains feeble.”
“It needs to be pointed out that condoning the continuation of fighting while claiming to care about the lives and safety of the people in Gaza and the humanitarian needs there is self-contradictory,” Ambassador Zhang Jun said.
“All this shows once again what double standard is,” he said.
France said it did “not see any contradiction in the fight against terrorism and the protection of civilians,” and added that with a lack of unity in the council, the crisis in Gaza is “getting worse and… runs the risk of extending.”
