Russian diplomat resigns: “I have never been so ashamed of my country”

Russian Advisor to the UN in Geneva Boris Bondarev resigned due to “bloody and senseless fighting in Ukraine”, making him the country’s top diplomat to leave the war.

Describing the levellies and unprofessionalism” at the Russian Foreign Ministry, as “catastrophic“, he declared that the war Vladimir Putin was “not only a crime against the Ukrainian people, but perhaps the most serious crime against the Russian people“.

In an interview with Reuters, the diplomat stressed: “Every Monday morning I went to the mission, sent my resignation letter and left. I started imagining it a few years ago, but the magnitude of this catastrophe pushed me to it.” He added that he had repeatedly expressed concern about the invasion of Ukraine to high-ranking embassy officials. “I was told to keep my mouth shut to avoid repercussions.“, – he said.

There were no official comments from Russia regarding Bondarev’s departure. By March Anatoly Chubais became the most prominent Kremlin official to retire because of the war. Former Putin’s special envoy for relations with international organizations for sustainable development, he left not only his post, but also Russia.

Boris Bondarev #Russian Mission to the #UN Office at Geneva, resigns

In his statement, diplomat noted that he had never been so ashamed of his country because of the “aggressive war in #Ukraine unleashed by #Putin.” pic.twitter.com/uqjBrXnRKY

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 23, 2022

Nexta published an alleged statement by the diplomat. It is not clear why it is written in English, and there is no signature at the end.

The text of the letter of resignation

“My name is Boris Bondarev, I have been at the Russian Foreign Ministry since 2002, and from 2019 to the present, I have been an adviser to the Russian Mission to the UN in Geneva.

Over the twenty years of my diplomatic career, I have seen various developments in foreign policy, but I have never been as ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year. Putin’s offensive war against Ukraine and against the entire Western world is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people, but perhaps the most serious crime against the Russian people with a sharp Z, which extinguishes all hopes and prospects for a prosperous free society in our country.

Those who planned this war want only one thing – to remain in power forever, to live in pompous, tasteless palaces, to sail on yachts comparable in capacity and cost to the entire Russian fleet, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity. For this they are ready to sacrifice as many lives as it takes. Thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have already died for this alone.

Regretfully, we have to state that for all these twenty years the level of lies and unprofessionalism in the work of the Foreign Ministry has constantly increased. However, in recent years it has become simply catastrophic. Instead of unbiased information, unbiased analysis and sober forecasts – propaganda clichés in the spirit of Soviet newspapers of the 1930s. A system has been created that deceives itself.

Minister Lavrov is a good example of the deterioration of this system. For 18 years, from a professional and educated intellectual, who was so appreciated by many of my colleagues, he turned into a person who constantly spreads contradictory statements and threatens the world (that is, Russia, including) with nuclear weapons!

Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has nothing to do with diplomacy. This is war, lies and hatred. It serves the interests of a few, very few people, thereby contributing to the further isolation and degradation of my country. Russia has no more allies and no one to blame but its reckless and ill-conceived policies.

I studied diplomacy and I have been a diplomat for twenty years. The Ministry has become my home and my family. But I just can’t share this bloody and completely senseless shame anymore.“.

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