Dmitry Polyanskiy (front), Russia's first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, speaks at an emergency meeting of the Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York, on Jan. 25, 2024. Polyanskiy on Thursday blasted France for what he said was a delay of an emergency meeting that Moscow requested following the crash of a Russian military plane. (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Russian envoy on Thursday blasted France for what he said was a delay of an emergency meeting that Moscow requested following the crash of a Russian military plane.
"We would like to express our indignation given the partiality shown by the French presidency (of the Security Council) as regards organizing emergency meetings that we have asked in the council," said Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Russia requested the emergency meeting to be held on Wednesday, but the meeting was eventually held on Thursday evening.
"As is a practice for the council meetings, a conscientious presidency usually meets those requests and convenes such meetings within three hours over the request," said Polyanskiy at the beginning of Thursday's emergency meeting.
The timetable of the Security Council allowed for an emergency meeting to take place on Wednesday, said Polyanskiy.
"But the French presidency (of the Security Council) categorically refused to do this," he said, adding that France should not place the interests of NATO and Ukraine above its duties as president of the Security Council.
"We are wondering whether this kind of behavior is worthy of you," said Polyanskiy.
The Russian ambassador also said France "delayed as much as possible" a Security Council meeting in the wake of U.S.-led strikes on Yemen over Houthi attacks on the Red Sea earlier this month.
French ambassador to the United Nations, Nicolas de Riviere, who chaired Thursday's meeting as president of the Security Council for January, said that the emergency meeting could not be arranged on Wednesday as requested. Security Council members, particularly the elected ones, needed time to get informed of the incident. ■
Nicolas de Riviere (C, with a gavel in hand), French ambassador to the United Nations, chairs an emergency meeting of the Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York, on Jan. 25, 2024. A Russian envoy on Thursday blasted France for what he said was a delay of an emergency meeting that Moscow requested following the crash of a Russian military plane. (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)