The Permanent Representative of Russia at the UN Vitaly Churkin died

On February 20, Vitaly Churkin, a regular representative of Russia at the UN, died in New York. He was 64 years old. Churkin was remembered by gesture performances to Western colleagues, but representatives of the USA, Great Britain and the EU call him an outstanding diplomat - like Russian officials.

Vitaly Churkin was 64 years old. Until the 65th anniversary, the diplomat did not live only one day. Death occurred suddenly-according to Deputy Churkin, he felt bad in the office in New York. The diplomat was taken to the Presbyterian hospital, where he died. According to preliminary data, the cause of death is a heart attack. This information has not yet received official confirmation.

Churkin served as a permanent representative of Russia at the UN for more than ten years , since April 2006. He began his diplomatic career in the United States: having graduated from MGIMO in 1974, he worked in Washington for eight years as the third and then second and first secretary of the USSR Embassy. In the early 1990s, Vitaly Churkin was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this position, for the first time in the history of the ministry, regular open briefings for foreign journalists began to conduct. Since 1992, he headed the diplomatic mission of the Russian Federation in Chile, Canada and Belgium, worked as a constant representative of Russia in NATO.

While working at the UN, Churkin often took a rigid anti -Western position. In particular, he repeatedly used the veto law on discussions in the Security Council of Resolutions on Syria and Ukraine. Vitaly Churkin also blocked the draft resolution, which proposed to create an international tribunal to investigate the Boeing Malaysian “Boeing”. Churkin has a lot and often commented on the foreign policy of the Russian Federation. He was remembered by a number of harsh statements that criticized the behavior of the United States, Great Britain and other Western countries. For example, in 2016, answering the Security Council of the US Permanent Representative Samamanta Power (she accused Russia of a humanitarian disaster of Aleppo), he stated that Power was not the mother of Teresa, but called the States with a “dubious track record”.

In Russia, Churkin was called an outstanding diplomat. The condolences in connection with his death were expressed by President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, as well as representatives of the Foreign Ministry, State Duma and the Federation Council. The journalist of Kommersant Sergey Strokan described Vitaly Churkin as "one of the brightest, charismatic and living Russian diplomats who did not lose a single battle in the UN Security Council."

At the UN, Vitaly Churkin's memory was honored with a minute of silence . Among colleagues who have already expressed condolences in connection with his death are regular representatives of the UK, France and the USA, as well as the European Union ambassador to Russia. US Permanent Representative Nikki Haley, appointed to the post on January 24, responded about Churkin as a “kind colleague”. “We did not always see things the same way, but he certainly defended the position of his country with great skill,” her statement said. The predecessor of Haley Samantha Power called Churkin “maestro diplomacy” and “a deeply responsive person who did everything possible to overcome the disagreement between Russia and the USA.”

Konstantin Benyumov