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Russia threatens to 'reassess collaboration' with UN chief over drone inspection
[GUARDIAN] Russia has threatened that it will reassess cooperation with the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, if he sends United Nations experts to Ukraine to inspect drones that western powers say were made in Iran and used by Moscow in violation of a UN resolution.Speaking after a closed-door UN security council meeting on Moscow’s use of drones, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, called on Guterres and his staff to “abstain from engaging in any illegitimate investigation”. He also threatened Russia would withdraw from the grain deal that has allowed Ukrainian grain to be transported out of Black Sea ports. Polyanskiy insisted the precision weapons had been made in Russia and condemned “baseless accusations and conspiracy theories”. But Ben Wallace, the UK defence secretary, said Moscow’s reliance on Iranian drones showed the strategic degradation of Russian weaponry, and urged the Iranian government to recognise it should not want to be associated with Russia’s indiscriminate killing of women and children. The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, is expected to join the EU in announcing the imposition of fresh sanctions on three Iranian military commanders, including Maj Gen Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces. Posted by: Fred 2022-10-21 |
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