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Russia regrets climate divide among UN Security Council members — mission to UN

According to the Russian mission, the proposed document was coercing the Council to take a one-dimensional approach to conflicts and threats to international peace and security

UNITED NATIONS, December 14. /TASS/. Russia regrets that climate change issues caused a divide between members of the United Nations Security Council, the Russian mission to the UN said in a statement.

Russia earlier vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution on climate and security submitted by Ireland and Niger. Russia and India voted against the adoption of the document, while China abstained from voting.

"The penholders of the document were pushing it through without readiness to discuss the root causes of challenges that vulnerable countries face. It resulted in a split among the Council members. It is regrettable that the subject for the divide was climate which, by its nature, is a unifying agenda, as was demonstrated by the recent consensus achieved in Glasgow. We fully share the concerns of the international community regarding adverse effects of climate change on the planet and contribute to global efforts to address these challenges, including in the context of achieving carbon neutrality of our economy by 2060," the statement reads.

According to the Russian mission, "the proposed document was coercing the Council to take a one-dimensional approach to conflicts and threats to international peace and security, i.e. through the climate lens." "It was a generic proposal to establish this automatic link while neglecting all other aspects of situations in countries in conflict or countries lagging behind in their socio-economic development," the statement added.

"We have to acknowledge that this course of action is not about caring for countries or for the lives of people that are faced with problems of climate change. Therein we see an attempt both to shift the blame towards the developing countries themselves and to gain leverage in the Council to impose a particular vision with regard to fulfillment of climate commitments and ultimately to initiate putting any country on the Council’s agenda under the climate pretext since climate-related issues are felt all over the world," the Russian mission to the UN pointed out.

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