Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield
United States Ambassador to the United Nations
New York, New York
October 11, 2022
INTERVIEWER: All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the New York Foreign Press Center. Today we are honored to have with us Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States Representative to the United Nations. My name is Melissa Waheibi and I will be the moderator for today’s event.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield will give opening remarks, and then we will have a moderated question and answer period. At that point, ma’am, the floor is yours.
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Thank you very much, and good afternoon to everyone.
In response to the illegal sham referendum and Russia’s attempts to annex Ukrainian territory, the Secretary General made a remarkable statement. He said, and I quote, “The Charter of the United Nations is clear: Any annexation of another state or territory by the threat or use of force is a violation of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law, “Without sex.
These were the words of the Secretary General of the United Nations – not the United States, not the European Union or any European country. These are the words of the Secretary General. They unflinchingly defined what was in there. The Secretary General’s words show that this vote is not a power struggle or a war between members of the Security Council. This is about something much bigger than any country – something bigger than even a group of countries. This is about the defense of the United Nations. It is about defending the United Nations Charter that all Member States of the United Nations have signed.
On September 30, we saw Russia again trying to protect itself from accountability and responsibility by rejecting a UN Security Council resolution condemning the fake referendum attempt and collusion. Not a single country – not a single country other than Russia – rejected this resolution. It is neither. As I promised at the time, we will not allow the Russian veto to stop us from pursuing accountability. So we brought this issue before the full council, and every country, big or small, whether a member of the security council or not, has a vote.
Yesterday, the president of the General Assembly reconvened the Emergency Special Session on Ukraine to deal with the illegal and treacherous attempts of Russia to occupy the independent territory of Ukraine. The European Union, on behalf of a group of a dozen member states of the United Nations, has drafted a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly, which condemns Russia’s actions as a clear violation of the United Nations Charter. and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
We call on all member states of the United Nations to support this resolution. To date, the resolution has approximately 70 partners from around the world. We expect this number to increase in the coming days.
As countries stood to issue their statements since yesterday, we heard the same resounding message over and over again. It is the same message that the Secretary General shared with me that I started with: It is illegal, and simply unacceptable, to try to redraw the borders of another country. It goes against what the UN stands for.
And yesterday we saw Russia’s cowardly attempt to make this vote a secret ballot that clearly failed by a huge margin. We are encouraged by how many voted in favor of the Russian regime’s attempt to defend itself from accountability.
I’ll end with this: After Russia’s attacks against Ukraine over the weekend, the election of members of the United Nations has become very difficult. The effect became more apparent. Now is not the time for placement. It’s time for action. As Secretary Blinken said yesterday, “The Russian attacks are yet another reminder that the war against Ukraine presents a deep moral issue. No sane person – and no principled country – would be dismayed by the destruction.” shocking,” he said.
I’ll stop here and look forward to your questions.
Moderator: Thank you, Madam Ambassador. Now it’s time for the Q&A portion of this episode. We would like to remind you that in order to be called, please identify yourself, change your full name and media. If you would like to ask a question, you can raise your digital hand to be called, or you can type your question in the chat function and we will read it to you. When prompted, please mute yourself and turn on your camera to ask your question.
I saw in the chat activity that we have a request for Ibtisam Azem. Ibtisam, if you can turn off the sound, turn on your camera, you can ask that question directly.
QUESTION: Thank you, Melissa. Hi, Ambassador. My name is Ibtisam Azem from Al-Caraby Al-Jadeed Newspaper. Nice to see you. So I have two questions; primarily about yesterday’s vote on the Albanian ambassador’s request to have a vote, a registered vote. As you said, 107 countries voted for it, but there were about 80 countries that were silent, did not vote, or refused. So my question here, how – why don’t you say to the countries if tomorrow – if you will have a large number of countries tomorrow that will be silent, what is the message that you are going to send? And which number will be a winning number and you will feel that a large number of the international community is behind you?
My second question is about Turkey calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine. It is days before the expected meeting between the leaders of Turkey and Russia, which will take place in Astana most of the time. Do you support like – do you support this call? what do you say about that? Thank you very much.
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Thank you very much. Regarding your first question, the important thing I look at is the number of countries that voted for Russia. The votes cast were very limited and the countries were not unexpected. And we expect those numbers to be even lower when we put the resolution up for a vote on Wednesday.
I cannot explain why countries take a decision to remain silent. Some have tried to explain that. But for us, those are the countries that voted no, and considering who they are, none of us are surprised.
Regarding Turkey – Turkey’s call for a cease-fire, surely that should be from both sides, because if the Ukrainians stop fighting in Ukraine they will lose their country. And whether Russia can be trusted remains to be seen. I certainly support efforts to end this war, but the easiest step to end the war is for Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine.
Moderator: Thank you. We received an introductory question from Cecilia from the Swedish media. I also see that your hand is raised. So if you want to ask your question directly, feel free to open your microphone and video.
QUESTION: Yes, thank you very much. Thank you Madam Ambassador. I was just surprised – yesterday we heard Ambassador Kyslytsya of Ukraine talking about the importance of passing this resolution not only because of the importance of expressing the condemnation of the so-called integration but also, what he called, he said, “restoration of confidence” in the entire Organization, the United Nations in general. Even if the resolution passes, why do you think there is a need to reform the United Nations?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: We’ve been having a discussion about reforming the United Nations for the past two weeks. As you know, I gave a speech in San Francisco a week or so ago at Excellence Week. President Biden also addressed this issue in his statement before the General Assembly.
We think that reforming the United Nations will lead to reforming the Security Council. It means that the Security Council is widely represented, with many members of the Security Council. As mentioned by President Biden, we must have African permanent members in the Security Council, permanent members from Latin America, and there is a need to increase the number of non-permanent members of the Security Council.
Two, the Security Council and the United Nations Reform will be involved in how we deal with veto issues. One of those recent measures was the Lichtenstein resolution calling for members of the Security Council to come to the General Assembly to explain their use of the veto. And the Russians have had to do that several times in the last few months, including their most recent objection that we’re now looking at bringing a resolution to a vote in the Security Council itself – I mean, I’m sorry, the General Assembly. Wednesday.
One of the things we are calling for is for countries to spare the use of the veto and only use the veto when it is deemed necessary.
QUESTION: We have seen, though, many times that countries like Russia still use the veto. Although they have to come to the General Assembly to explain themselves, it is something they can continue to do. Is there another way to – what do you want as a representative of the United States to see when it comes to the veto?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Well, actually, they can’t deny the Security Council, they can’t deny the condemnation they face, they can’t deny the isolation they face. The fact that 14 countries in the Security Council did – they voted for them – is a clear proof – it is a clear proof of the isolation they face.
Moderator: Thank you. For our next question, we’ll go to Ali Barada. Ali, if you could mention your organization; Ask your question to the Ambassador.
QUESTION: Thank you, Melissa. Thank you Ambassador. My name is Ali Barada. I work for France24 and Asharq Al-Awsat. Yesterday your Russian friend said that the US needed – and the West needed more time to force hesitant countries to vote yes on the draft resolution. I wonder if you are particularly pressing this issue on the Arab and African countries, considering that the majority of them were silent on the previous vote on March 2. Thank you.
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: The countries that are threatening to vote are Russia. We do not use scare tactics. Our message to all countries is that this is about the UN Charter. It is about what the Secretary General said in his statement. This is an attack on all the values we stand for. It is not a competition between Russia and the United States. It’s not taking sides. It is about defending Ukraine’s right to exist. It is about defending the UN Charter.
And the countries that decide to keep quiet, again, I can’t explain those countries. We do, together with different countries, interact with our friends and allies and friends to explain our position on the UN Charter, but we do not use intimidation tactics. That is another false message and a propaganda message from Russia explaining to the world what they do to intimidate – to get votes. And they’re clearly not succeeding, as you noted. As you will notice, there were several countries that voted for Russia in the three votes we received yesterday.
QUESTION: Are you – quick follow-up: Do you now feel confident that many Arab and African countries will vote for your draft resolution?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: We are doing everything possible to make sure that the votes are strong. Back in 2014, 100 countries supported the vote against Russia in Crimea, and that number is rising. And I think that African countries and Middle Eastern countries understand and appreciate the importance of supporting the United Nations Charter that we all signed when it was created. And they all see with their own eyes the aggression of Russia against the people of Ukraine, and there is no moral country, according to Secretary Blinken, which cannot be moved.
QUESTION: Thank you, Madam Ambassador.
Moderator: Thank you, Ali. For our next question, we’ll go to Benno Schwinghammer from the German Press Agency. Go ahead and ask your question.
QUESTION: Thank you very much, Ambassador, for that brief report. Regarding tomorrow’s vote, again, it seemed to me yesterday that not much happened – countries that are not even silent but did not vote at all. So do you think this could be a change tomorrow where countries will avoid taking sides and not vote at all?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Well, again, I don’t think this is a side issue. I think it’s a matter of upholding the core values of the UN Charter. And what I’m looking at, again, is the number of countries that voted for Russia, and the number was very high. And the number who voted for Russia was small. So even in the absent and silent countries, the voice against Russia was very strong.
QUESTION: If I may – I don’t know if you said it earlier; I’m having technical problems – China and India, what do you expect from them tomorrow?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: I can’t predict what to expect from the two countries. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I think we saw in the case of China that they kept quiet. They were out yesterday, but I can’t predict what votes each country will make.
INTERVIEWER: Next question, it goes to Mr. Fazal from Bangladesh. Go ahead and ask your question.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. Thank you, Ambassador, for this brief report. My question was asked by my journalist friend, just what do you expect – or I can say this: how – what did you expect from South Asia? And I have another question – how many countries can participate – why exactly?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: How many countries can participate in —
QUESTION: Yes. How many countries in South Asia can stand up for this – I mean voting?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Yes. Again, we are dealing with every country. And you will notice that the comments from yesterday supported the decision from every region of the world. So again, we’re all going to vote tomorrow, and I think there’s a lot of support for the resolution and we’ll see again how countries vote when they push the buttons tomorrow. But if yesterday was an example, the countries that voted for Russia – the numbers were very small.
QUESTION: The ambassador, as you said, is not a competition between Russia and America. It is a real reason and every reasonable person who criticizes or condemns this aggression – the aggression of Russia in Ukraine. But the prime minister of Bangladesh – his thirteenth prime minister – Sheikh Hasina criticized the US sanctions on Russia as she saw it as a violation of human rights, although it violated the human rights of Bangladesh to retain power in any way. So what is your comment on criticism?
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: The Russians have consistently argued that sanctions are the cause of the crisis and especially in other parts of the world. And it has been very clear that the sanctions – there are no sanctions on humanitarian aid; there are no sanctions on agricultural production – and that what is causing the problem is the aggressive attack of Russia and the continuous attack of the Ukrainian people.
QUESTION: Thank you, Ambassador.
MODERATOR: We have time for one more question. Alex from Azerbaijan, go ahead and ask your question.
QUESTION: Yes. Thank you very much, Melissa, and thank you, Ambassador, for being here today. You have shown your disillusionment to countries – well, you put it diplomatically – that are still silent and absent. Let me try to push that a little bit. Are you clearly saying that those who leave the room or do not support Ukraine in this particular case are not on the right side of history? And the countries especially those that have their own issues of territorial unity, the one that I represent here – in fact as the audience it is difficult to understand their reasons. So you said some of them don’t share their reasons in private? I’m just curious – without sinking all your diplomatic ties of course – but could you give us a few of those reasons? Is it threatened by Russia? Thank you very much.
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: They have to explain that. And I have no qualms about countries leaving the room or staying away. What we are looking at are the countries that vote for the resolution and those that vote for Russia, and that number is limited, and the number that voted for Russia is excessive. But some countries have said – many, actually have said they want to be neutral. They don’t want to take sides. And we said this is not a side. This is not between Russia and the United States. This is about defending the core values of the United Nations Charter. And so that’s the message that we keep repeating over and over again. It is not aligned with the United States. It is not anti-Russian. It is about defending the convention that every member state of the UN has signed.
