Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield speech at the United Nations Security Meeting. February 21, 2022.
Ambassador to the UN condemns Russia’s “attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Source: Bloomberg
Putin claims Russia has the rightful claim to the year 1900 Russian Empire conquered territories. Including Finland. It includes Belarus and Georgia and Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
“We do not have to guess at President Putin’s motives. Today, President Putin made a series of outrageous, false claims about Ukraine aimed at creating a pretext for war, and immediately thereafter, announced Russian troops are entering the Donbas.
“He claimed that Ukraine is seeking nuclear weapons from the West. This is not true. Ukraine is in fact one of only four countries to have voluntarily surrendered their nuclear weapons. The United States and our allies have no intention of supplying nuclear weapons to Ukraine, and Ukraine doesn’t want them.”
And then, President Putin asserted that Russia today has a rightful claim to all territories – all territories – from the Russian Empire; the same Russian Empire from before the Soviet Union, from over 100 years ago.
“That includes all of Ukraine. It includes Finland. It includes Belarus and Georgia and Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.”
It includes parts of Poland and Turkey. In essence, Putin wants the world to travel back in time. To a time before the United Nations. To a time when empires ruled the world. But the rest of the world has moved forward. It is not 1919.
It is 2022. The United Nations was founded on the principle of decolonization, not recolonization. And we believe the vast majority of UN Member States and the UN Security Council are committed to moving forward – not going back in time.”………………
– Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas- Watch Video. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speech at the United Nations Security Meeting. February 22, 2022.