UNITED NATIONS, March 22. /TASS/. The US consistently exercises its veto power in the UN Security Council in a cold-blooded manner, preventing the international community from calling for a ceasefire in the embattled Gaza Strip, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said.

"The UN Security Council has been unable to pass a document demanding a ceasefire in Gaza for six months. All attempts have run up against the wall of US resistance, as Washington has exercised its veto power four times in this chamber. Over this time, we have heard a lot of excuses from our American colleagues," he noted.

"Even now, we are witnessing a typical hypocritical show, where the United States is trying to sell something disguised as 'a ceasefire' to Security Council members and the entire international community, which is in fact a vague formula for determining a ceasefire imperative. Such philosophical passages about moral imperatives are more suited to the works of Immanuel Kant," the Russian diplomat added.

"Now that it’s been more than six months since Gaza was almost flattened, the US representative says without batting an eye that Washington is finally coming to understand the need for a ceasefire. Washington’s slow thinking has cost the lives of 32,000 Palestinian civilians, two-thirds of them women and children," Nebenzya stressed.

The Russian diplomat emphasized that the Americans had been playing for time. "First, they said that it’s too early to demand a ceasefire because of the need to give room to Israel’s ‘counterterrorism efforts.’ Then they demanded the Council refrain from impeding ‘Washington’s effective diplomacy on the ground.’ They also called for waiting for the month of Ramadan, claiming that an agreement on ending violence was going to be achieved then," Nebenzya said.