Lavrov Calls Off Trip to UN in Geneva after EU Sanctions

By Staff, Agencies

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cancelled a trip to the United Nations in Geneva due to the “anti-Russian sanctions” imposed by EU countries, Russia’s mission in Geneva said Monday.

Lavrov had been scheduled to address the UN Human Rights Council and the Conference on Disarmament in person Tuesday, and had also been due to give a press conference.

However, he has been forced to cancel his trip “due to an unprecedented ban on his flight in the airspace of a number of EU countries that have imposed anti-Russian sanctions,” the mission tweeted.

The announcement came as Moscow was lambasted on the opening day of the rights council’s main annual session, with presidents, ministers and other dignitaries from around the world voicing alarm at its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s operation in Ukraine has become the only option left to prevent further bloodshed in the country and stop Kiev from trying to launch an all-out assault on the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in the country’s east, the Kremlin has explained. Ahead of the offensive, Moscow formally recognized the People’s Republics there as independent states.

Kiev, however, claimed the attack was “unprovoked,” insisting it has had zero plans to retake the breakaway regions by force. Donetsk and Lugansk split from Ukraine back in 2014 following the Maidan coup, which ousted the democratically-elected government of the country. While active, large-scale combat ended with the 2014-15 Minsk agreements, the roadmap out of the crisis the deal had provided was never implemented, with the republics enduring years of low-intensity warfare that left thousands of people dead.