Vasily Nebenzya


Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya is a Russian diplomat and the current Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. His official title is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

Life and career

Nebenzya was born 26 February 1962 in Volgograd, USSR. His father was Deputy Chairman of the USSR State Committee for Publishing Aleksei Andreevich Nebenzya. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1983. Since then he has pursued a diplomatic career.

Nomination and confirmation

In February 2017, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin died. In March 2017 Nebenzya was named as one of the main candidates for this post alongside the Permanent Representative of Russia to NATO Alexander Grushko, and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Anatoly Antonov.
On April 21, 2017, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia nominated him for the post of UN Ambassador. Since 25 to 29 May 2017 He was officially approved of the Federal Assembly of Russia.
President Putin appointed Nebenzya as Permanent Representative to the United Nations on July 27, 2017, and he presented his credentials to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres the following day.

Tenure

Conflict in Ukraine

In July 2014, Vasily Nebenzya published an article "Ukraine: The Choice of Paradigm and Consequences" in the Izvestia newspaper. In the article, Nebenzya analyzed the unequal nature of the agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, which for Ukraine "is not spelled out the prospect of membership in this integration Association".
In the autumn of 2017, Vasily Nebenzya told reporters that the Russian plan to deploy the UN peacekeeping mission in the Donbass did not find support from the United States and Ukraine.

Syrian civil war

Vasily Nebenzya is actively debating in the UN Security Council about the War in Syria. In February 2018, Nebenzya said that the blow inflicted by the forces of the international coalition led by the United States on Syrian government troops is a crime. According to him, representatives of the coalition constantly claim that they are in Syria to fight terrorism, but they are not limited to that stated goal and attack those who really fight with the militants in the territory of the Republic, and this is a crime.
Vasily Nebenzya urged the UN to take seriously the information of Damascus that Western countries supplied Syrian militants with chemical weapons. According to Nebenzya, if the information is confirmed and it turns out that the armed opposition really had chemical weapons produced by American and British companies, it can be regarded as a violation of the Convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons.
Commenting on the news about the upcoming US and its allies launching of a missile strike on Syria, Vasily Nebenzya told reporters that Russia had repeatedly warned the US about the possible serious consequences of the attack on the armed forces in Syria.
On 14 April 2018, when the US and allies launched the missile attack on Syria, Vasily Nebenzya, speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, said that the leadership of the United States, if you wish, you will be able to end the war in Syria in 24 hours. To do this, they need to give the command to their "manual terrorists". Nebenzya also called on the US to stop its aggressive actions against Syria and prevent them from happening again.

Skripal poisoning

In mid-March 2018, Nebenzya said that the United Kingdom, which initiated an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in the case of poisoning former GRU Colonel Sergey Skripal, is not interested in establishing the truth.
On 6 April 2018, Vasily Nebenzya commented on the UK charges in the Skripal case by criticising the British version of events which he summarised as the UK arguing that Russia could not forgive Skripal for treason and therefore decided to eliminate him despite the fact that he, of course, represents no current threat to the Russian state. Vasily Nebenzya proceeded to question the conspicuous timing: "Why did we wait eight years and decided on a "case" two weeks before the presidential election and a few weeks before the World Cup?", "Why was he even released from Russia?", "Why would we attempt to assassinate him in such a strange way which is so dangerous to bystanders?"

Crisis in Venezuela

Speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council devoted to the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Vasily Nebenzya said that Russia calls to stop interfering in the internal affairs of Venezuela and abandon economic pressure on the country.
According to him, the recognition of the United States and a number of countries of Juan Guaidó as President means that they either contributed or had a hand in the creation of dual power in Venezuela. He stressed that the current situation threatens to seriously destabilize the domestic political situation.
S/PV.8452 Security Council: Seventy-fourth year: 8452nd meeting.