In a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, which Russia chairs this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov referred to “the Nazi Kyiv regime,” which he said does not represent “the residents of the territory who refused to accept the results of the brutal coup in February 2014.”
The claim has been “debunked countless times,” according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, which noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish and democratically elected.
Lavrov also accused Ukrainian leaders of having “introduced Nazi practice and theory without any concealment. Openly, they organized in the center of Kyiv and other cities exuberant torch-bearing marches with SS division banners upheld.”
There is no evidence of such claims, according to DW.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield was among those at the meeting who admonished Russia.
“Our hypocritical convener today, Russia, invaded its neighbor, Ukraine, and struck at the heart of the U.N. Charter,” she said. “This illegal, unprovoked and unnecessary war runs directly counter to our most shared principles—that a war of aggression and territorial conquest is never, ever acceptable.”