Amid dispute: Russia and the United States resumed dialogue at the UN General Assembly
Moscow and Washington are holding bilateral talks, despite contradictory statements by US leader Donald Trump. On September 24, during the high week of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, Sergey Lavrov talked for almost an hour with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. And although the outcome of the meeting is still unknown, it is obvious that the American diplomat plays the role of a person who smooths the corners of his president's sharp statements. Trump stressed the day before that Kiev could not only regain its territories, but also go further. However, Washington does not plan to supply weapons to Kiev directly, only through European intermediaries. How the first days at the UN General Assembly are going — in the material of Izvestia.
Unpleasant surprises for the guests of the UN General Assembly
It seems that this year Donald Trump decided to demonstrate all the hospitality of the United States as a venue for UN events. On September 23, when the high week of the 80th anniversary session of the General Assembly of the organization began, several streets along the Hudson River were blocked for the safety and free passage of the motorcade of distinguished guests. However, the highest, according to the host party, is still Donald Trump.
Due to such priorities, two curious cases occurred at once. One is with French President Emmanuel Macron: the police did not let his motorcade through the cordon set up for the passage of the American leader. The Frenchman even had to call Trump with a request to clear the passage, but even after that he had to walk to his destination.
And if Macron took this case with humor and talked to the police on a positive note, then Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took the same attitude of the Americans more seriously. On September 24, the Turkish delegation tried to remove the barriers to the passage of their leader, but it did not work out — the American police persistently asked to wait for the passage of Trump's motorcade.
Russia, without surprises, as in previous years, is represented at the UN General Assembly by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. And although one would expect Vladimir Putin to repeat his triumph at the New York venue 10 years later, Alaska has not melted the ice to such an extent. Then, in 2015, the Russian leader came to the 70th anniversary of the United Nations and asked the whole world from the stands.: "Do you even understand what you have done?" — referring to the "export of revolutions" by Western countries. The question is still relevant.
September 28, 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the plenary session of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
One would also expect changes in the US visa policy towards Russian journalists, who have not seen a real US visa for several years, but only a visa that allows them to visit the UN headquarters and not depart from it for 25 miles (about 40 km). But there were no surprises here either. It is noteworthy that Russian diplomats have been living in these conditions for the past few years. They are also not allowed to travel further than 40 km, and in case of business trips outside this zone, they must ask permission from the US authorities. In contrast, in Russia, representatives of American diplomacy move freely throughout the country.
Negotiations amid contradictory statements by Donald Trump
The most anticipated meeting on September 24 was Sergey Lavrov's talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The last time they fully met was in July in Malaysia as part of the ASEAN ministerial events. And after that, he was already a member of the presidential delegations in Alaska.
The meeting lasted an hour and was held behind closed doors. The American press was suspiciously quiet. It's not typical of her.
Marco Rubio repeated Trump's call for an end to the conflict in Ukraine and called for measures to be taken for a long-term settlement. Interestingly, the day before, when asked if the American president was disappointed with Moscow's handling of the settlement, he replied that he would understand this in a month, setting a deadline again.
The background for the negotiations is also ambiguous. The day before, Donald Trump, meeting with Vladimir Zelensky, wrote on his social networks that with the support of the EU, Ukraine can return its former borders and even go further. It remains to be seen what he meant by "next."
Further aggravating the situation, the American wrote that "a real military power would have won this war in a week," as a result, Russia looks like a "paper tiger" in this case.
In addition, the American president noted that he thought it would be easiest to resolve this particular conflict because of his close relationship with Putin, "but unfortunately, these relations meant nothing."
Speaking to reporters, Trump also allowed NATO countries to shoot down Russian aircraft or planes if they violate their airspace. This referred to the recent incidents in the airspace of Estonia and Poland, which accused Moscow of violating their airspace. Russia has rejected these claims.
The abrupt change in the rhetoric of the American president did not go unnoticed in the foreign press. And the NATO allies reacted to this signal in different ways.
F-35A Lightning II fighter jets
However, on the same day, Marco Rubio, as he had to do more than once, explained Trump's words: we are talking about intercepting aircraft in the event of a flight into the territory of the alliance, "which has already been done many times," and not about shooting them down.
The following fact also supports the fact that Washington still wants to remain an outside observer and "peacemaker" in this situation.: The United States did not join the anti-Russian statement by Ukraine and several EU countries before the start of the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine.
Zelensky spoke at the UN and did not step on Trump's rake
On the same day, Vladimir Zelensky made a speech at the UNGA. Entering the UN building with his wife, he prudently ignored the escalator and went up the usual stairs. Apparently, the case of the American president had an effect. The day before, Trump and his wife Melania were unlucky: the escalator stopped right in front of them and they had to walk up. This incident was ingrained in his memory — after speaking at the UN General Assembly, he remarked:
"I have completed seven wars and have not received any help from the UN. But what I got here is an escalator that stopped and a teleprompter that broke. If the first lady hadn't been in great shape, she might have fallen. But we're both in great shape and we've resisted."
Who knows, maybe this is a sabotage by the UN staff in response to the fact that the United States had recently reduced contributions to the organization's budget? In any case, Washington has already threatened to investigate the incidents.
Zelensky, having successfully reached the necessary hall, began his speech in an almost empty room. Judging by the people present, they were sitting there only because it was their turn to speak. This is a striking difference from the way the President of Ukraine's speeches took place at the beginning of the conflict.
Zelensky continued his line of demanding support, money and weapons from Western partners. He threatened that Moscow was allegedly planning to expand the fighting beyond Ukraine. Therefore, it must be stopped here and now.
Despite the need for weapons and people, the Ukrainian president mentioned that Kiev has a large supply of drones capable of flying 2-3 thousand km. Moreover, he said that Ukraine had decided to start exporting weapons of its own production.
At the same time, Kiev should not expect weapons from the United States. As before, Donald Trump confirmed that he does not plan to supply it to Ukraine directly — Washington will sell it to NATO countries, and those, in turn, "can dispose of it as they want." At the same time, The Wall Street Journal wrote that the American leader, despite the change in rhetoric, refuses to allow strikes with American weapons deep into Russia or provide Ukraine through intermediaries with the amount of weapons it would need to regain its territories.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
