US, UK and Albanian delegations withdraw from UN Security Council meeting on Euromaidan

The British, US and Albanian delegations to the UN have temporarily left the Arria Formula informal Security Council meeting on the Euromaidan events convened at the initiative of Russia, a TASS correspondent reports.

Representatives of the British, American and Albanian delegations left the room where the meeting was held when experts who pointed out the West's direct involvement in the Euromaidan spoke. "I would like to say that some of our colleagues gingerly left the room <...> at the moment when our Ukrainian rapporteurs were addressing us. I believe this is inappropriate and undignified, you should have the courage to face the truth," Russia's permanent representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said during the meeting.

Earlier, the head of the Russian diplomatic mission noted that Russia had no doubt that the US and the EU played a key role in fueling the protests that led to Euromaidan.

The events called Euromaidan broke out in Ukraine on November 21, 2013, when the country’s government announced that the process of signing the Association Agreement with the EU had been suspended. In response, the opposition launched large-scale protests in Kiev, which spiraled into riots. The political crisis resulted in a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

 The events that took place after Euromaidan have deprived Ukraine of the right to determine its future and of its national sovereignty, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said.

"We all know what happened after the Maidan. <…> What are the results of the Kiev regime’s cynical, inhuman and simply criminal policy towards its people? The results are tragic and devastating. Simply put, Ukraine is in ruins. The country had to renounce everything - its sovereignty, the right to determine its future, its historical, cultural and religious Slavic background and the ties with Russia," Nebenzya said at the UN Security Council’s Arria-formula meeting on the Euromaidan events.

The Russian ambassador pointed out that the Kiev authorities "are currently getting by on handouts from their Western handlers, as well as on the grants from international organizations." [TASS]