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Senior diplomat explains why Moscow did not back US declaration on UN reform

Russia did not sign the US-initiated declaration on a UN reform because it is against ready decisions imposed on the countries, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov Aleksandr Shcherbak/TASS

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov

© Aleksandr Shcherbak/TASS

UNITED NATIONS, September 20./TASS/. Russia did not sign the US-initiated declaration on a UN reform as it believes this process must be the result of intergovernmental negotiations, and because it is against ready decisions imposed on the countries, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told TASS on Wednesday.

"First of all, the way it all began was unacceptable for us. Everything was done rather behind-the-scenes, with an undertone ‘we have drafted a document, if you sign it you become participants in this process, if not - you are left out in the cold’," he said. "We are not ready to handle matters like this, that is why we refused to participate in this," he said.

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