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Russian envoy to UN dies in New York Russian envoy to UN dies in New York
(35 minutes later)
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, has died in New York, the Russian foreign ministry has said. Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations for the past decade and leading international exponent of Vladimir Putin’s increasingly self-confident foreign policy, has died suddenly aged 64, the foreign ministry in Moscow has said.
It gave few details on the circumstances surrounding his death but offered condolences to his relatives and said the diplomat had died a day before his 65th birthday. In a statement on Monday night, the ministry said Churkin had died in New York, where the UN headquarters are located, one day before his 65th birthday. He had died at New York Presbyterian Hospital after suffering what was described as a cardiac condition in his office at 9am Eastern Standard Time, it said.
“The outstanding Russian diplomat passed away at his work post,” it added. “The outstanding Russian diplomat died while he was in his current working role. We offer our condolences to the relatives of Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin,” the statement added.
Generally regarded as a talented Putin loyalist, Churkin was a pugnacious defender of Russian policy, notably its intensive bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo last year against rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. Representing a Security Council permanent member, Churkin repeatedly wielded vetoes to prevent resolutions criticising Assad’s regime.
The stance led to his being lambasted in heightened tones last year by Samantha Power, Barack Obama’s envoy to the UN, and by UN humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien, who referred in October to the bombing of eastern Aleppo as “our generation’s shame”.
Denouncing O’Brien’s vivid account as “unfair and dishonest,” Churkin, in one of the most pointed attacks against a top UN official by a permanent council member in recent times, told him to leave his comments “for the novel you’re going to write some day.”
His clash with Power was even more noteworthy. In one of the stand-out confrontations of recent diplomatic history, Power unleashed a firestorm of invective on Russia, Iran and Syria in December, saying that countries that were “denying or obfuscating the facts, as you will do today -- saying up is down, black is white -- will not absolve you”.
She added: “Are you truly incapable of shame? Is there literally nothing that can shame you?”
Faced by Power’s verbal assault, Churkin hit back, saying Power was acting like she was Mother Theresa, a status, he argued, the US could hardly claim given its record in the Middle East.
Despite their past tension, Power wrote on Twitter on Monday she was “devastated” by the death of a man she described as a “diplomatic maestro & deeply caring”. Churkin, she added, “did all he cld to bridge US-RUS differences.”
Devastated by passing of Russian UN Amb Vitaly Churkin.Diplomatic maestro &deeply caring man who did all he cld to bridge US-RUS differences
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general’s office, said: “He has been such a regular presence here that I am actually quite stunned. Our thoughts go to his family, to his friends and to his government.”Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general’s office, said: “He has been such a regular presence here that I am actually quite stunned. Our thoughts go to his family, to his friends and to his government.”
Churkin was a pugnacious defender of Russian policy, notably its intensive bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo last year against rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. The Russian ambassador to the the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, said he was “shocked and saddened to learn that Ambassador Vitaly Churkin passed away,” adding he was “a top diplomat and a good friend”.
When then-US envoy to the UN Samantha Power accused Syria, Russia and Iran last year of bearing responsibility for atrocities there, Churkin said she was acting like Mother Teresa, and forgetting the United States’ track record in the Middle East. Churkin’s death came amid growing political controversy over the extent to which Putin’s regime cultivated contacts with Donald Trump’s campaign team last year.
More details soon … Churkin was also set to face a tough diplomatic year including over continued disagreements over Russian intervention in Ukraine and chemical weapon use by President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Churkin had recently been pressing the UN to take a closer interest in the Yemen war, describing it as a forgotten conflict that was more complex than Syria. He had recently claimed there was an encouraging trend at the UN to put pressure on Kiev to honour the Minsk agreements.
Before being appointed as the Russian ambassador, Churkin served as ambassador to Belgium, ambassador to Canada and liaison ambassador to NATO. He also was the “ambassador at large” in the foreign ministry in the 2000s.