MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to France Alexey Meshkov called the refusal of France's permanent representative to the UN Nicolas de Riviere to let Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov respond at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Nord Stream pipelines "shameful."
"It’s shameful, it doesn’t fit into any diplomatic norms - not to give the right to respond. Moreover, I am convinced that the members of the UN Security Council would be much more interested in hearing Kupriyanov than propaganda read out by their colleagues in the Security Council," the ambassador said on air of the Rossiya 24 TV channel.
According to the ambassador, "the French chairman played his role, albeit, literally on the last day of France's representation in the Security Council."
"In my opinion, we do not need to exaggerate this topic, because each country, which is a member of the Security Council, only chairs it for a month, and not for a year or more," the diplomat stressed.
On October 1, at the beginning of the UN Security Council meeting Kupriyanov delivered a report on the Nord Stream incidents. After representatives from all countries in the Security Council made statements, participants at the meeting had the right to respond. Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said that Kupriyanov wanted to comment on the words of previous speakers, but the Permanent Representative of France deprived Gazprom spokesman of such an opportunity.