Vitaly
Churkin Passing Marked
by Guterres, After Haley, UNSC,
Stood for Sovereignty
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
February 20 – Vitaly Churkin,
long time Russian Ambassador
to the UN, died on Monday
morning while working, the day
before his 65th birthday.
After 8 pm, US
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres issued this
statement:
"Secretary-General’s statement
on the death of Ambassador
Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin
I have just returned to New
York and have learned with
shock and sadness of the news
of the sudden passing of
Ambassador Vitaly Ivanovich
Churkin, who was an
outstanding diplomat.
Ambassador Churkin served the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the Russian Federation with
distinction through some of
the most challenging and
momentous periods of recent
history.
In 2006, he was appointed as
the Permanent Representative
of the Russian Federation to
the United Nations. For
more than a decade, Ambassador
Churkin was a forceful
presence on the Security
Council.
Ambassador Churkin was a
uniquely skilled diplomat, a
powerful orator with great
wit, and a man of many talents
and interests.
Although we served together
for a short time, I greatly
appreciated the opportunity to
work with him and will deeply
miss his insights, skills and
friendship. I pay
tribute to his contributions
to the United Nations and
offer my deepest condolences
to his family and loved ones,
and to the Government and
people of the Russian
Federation."
Back at 2 pm, US
Ambassador Nikki Haley issued
a statement: "In my short time
at the United Nations,
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin
showed himself to be a
gracious colleague. We did not
always see things the same
way, but he unquestionably
advocated his country's
positions with great skill. We
send our prayers and heartfelt
condolences to lift up his
family and to the Russian
people."
The UN Security
Council by six pm agreed to a
Press Statement: "The members
of the Security Council were
deeply saddened to learn of
the death of Ambassador Vitaly
Churkin, prominent Russian
diplomat and Permanent
Representative of the Russian
Federation to the UN, on
February 20, 2017.
The members of the Security
Council mourned for the
Ambassador who has spent more
than forty years at the
Russian Diplomatic Service,
has headed Russian Mission to
the UN for more than a decade
and would have turned 65 on
February 21, 2017.
The members of the Security
Council expressed their deep
condolences to the family of
the Ambassador, the Government
and the people of the Russian
Federation."
UN
President of the General
Assembly Peter Thomson told
the press that there will be a
GA session to commemorate
Churkin, whom he said stood
out in his willingness to meet
with smaller countries.
Then while
a Russian TV crew waited for
quotes from this speaker about
Churkin, staff whisked him
upstairs to Al Jazeera, which
asked among other things about
Churkin blocking action on
Syria.
Online
condolences poured in, back
from the UK's Mark
Lyall Grant (and
Samantha Power), from Israel
and Palestine, back to
back. Periscope
here.
Churkin's
advocacy in the UN Security
Council ranged from deriding
US Ambassador Samantha Power
as a Mother Theresa wannabe,
back to asking if then US
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad's
earpiece was working, during a
late night Council meeting
about Abhazia, South Ossetia
and Georgia.
Here's
video of Churkin on
December 30, 2016, Inner City
Press asking him about Syria
and Libya.
On Africa,
for example, Churkin told
Inner City Press that there
shouldn't be a vote on Eritrea
sanctions until that country's
president was allowed to
address the Security Council.
Churkin spoke at length with
Inner City Press, recounting
that "we had some people working on the
sanctions resolution, on and off... All of
the sudden last night we were told the
sponsors were moving the resolution in
blue, voting... today."
As Inner
City Press exclusively
reported [then] US
Ambassador Susan Rice said the vote
should take place Wednesday since Gabon,
Nigeria and the regional IGAD group want
the sanctions.
Churkin
disagreed, saying "there is a 48 hour
rule.. but at least 24 hours" between
putting a text into blue and voting on it.
He also noted that "more than a month ago,
the president of Eritrea asked to address
the Security Council. We believe it is his
right under the UN Charter."
On
the other hand, on February 20
after Churkin's death, a diplomat
told Inner City Press of Churkin being nice, in Security Council
closed door consultations,
with Susan Rice and her
child, during hair
braiding.
Here is
Periscope video of Churkin
speaking, about Syria, on
the steps outside the UN Security
Council earlier this year.
That was Churkin, rest in peace. Watch
this site.
***
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