UN Diplomats Stage Mass Walkout Before Russian Minister’s Speech in Viral Video

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov faced a walkout from about 100 diplomats, many of them from Western countries, before his speech at the United Nations Human Rights Council. The diplomats’ gesture was in protest of Russian invasion of Ukraine. The walkout was led by the besieged country’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, which left almost no audience for Lavrov at the conference on disarmament, reports New York Times. Lavrov addressed the conference via video link, claiming that his travel had been blocked due to the bans placed on Russian flights by European countries. Video footage of the walkout staged by the diplomats soon went viral on social media platforms. The US Mission in Geneva tweeted: “U.S. Ambassadors @USAmbGVA Crocker and @USAmbHRC Taylor were proud to join @UKRinUNOG and colleagues from around the globe in today’s dramatic walkout from the Human Rights Council to protest Lavrov’s appalling attempt to justify Russia’s brutal and unprovoked attack on Ukraine.”