“Moscow Has Mined the UN”: Ukraine Condemns Russian Appointment to Mine Action Role

Ukraine criticized the appointment of a serving Russian ambassador Gleb Desyatnikov to lead United Nations mine action, arguing that the decision undermines trust in the organization, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi wrote in a post on X on October 29.

“Moscow has mined the United Nations,” Tykhyi stated.

He pointed to what he described as a contradiction between Ukraine’s status as the world’s most mine-contaminated country after more than a decade of Russian aggression and the UN’s decision to place a Russian representative in charge of mine action.

Ukrainska Pravda reported that Gleb Desyatnikov has spent more than 35 years in Russia’s diplomatic system, including as Moscow’s ambassador to Jordan since 2018, a senior adviser at Russia’s UN mission in New York, and a senior official in the Russian Foreign Ministry. His career has been spent representing Russian state interests abroad, including throughout the full-scale war against Ukraine.

“Fact 1: After more than a decade of Russian aggression, Ukraine has become the most mine-contaminated country in the world,” Tykhyi wrote.

“Fact 2: A serving Russian ambassador who has represented the regime throughout its full-scale war against Ukraine has been appointed to lead UN mine action.”

Tykhyi questioned how the UN Secretariat had reconciled those circumstances and what results it expected from the appointment.

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“Entrusting this responsibility to a representative of the aggressor state is deeply troubling and undermines trust in the United Nations,” he stated.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson also linked the appointment to Ukraine’s broader criticism of Russia’s position within the UN system.

“This appointment confirms what has been known for years: Russia’s illegitimate occupation of the Soviet Union’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council poisons the entire UN system,” Tykhyi wrote.

Tykhyi’s criticism echoes a long-running legal argument over Russia’s place in the UN. Former Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Volodymyr Yelchenko has previously argued that Moscow assumed the Soviet Union’s UN membership in 1991 without completing the procedures required under the UN Charter.

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