A high-ranking Russian diplomat at the UN headquarters in Geneva has resigned with sharp words against the Kremlin. President Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine is a crime against the Ukrainian and Russian people, Embassy Counselor Boris Bondarev wrote on LinkedIn. “I have never been as ashamed of my country as I was on February 24 this year,” Bondarev wrote.

Those who planned this war wanted to stay in power forever, live in tacky palaces and sail on yachts comparable in size and cost to the entire Russian Navy, he criticized. “For this, they are ready to sacrifice as many lives as necessary.” Thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have already died for it.

In the Russian Foreign Ministry, disinformation and propaganda had reached a level reminiscent of the Soviet era in the 1930s, he wrote, alluding to the rule under dictator Joseph Stalin.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is an excellent example of the development that the Foreign Ministry has taken: in 18 years, he has gone from being a professional and educated intellectual to someone who constantly makes contradictory statements and threatens the world with nuclear weapons. The Foreign Ministry is no longer about diplomacy. “It’s about warmongering, lies and hate.”

“Enough is enough,” wrote Bondarev, announcing his retirement from public service after 20 years in his job. He was most recently concerned with the issue of disarmament.

Bondarev also said that he was worried about how the government in Moscow would react to his statement. That’s why he doesn’t want to leave Geneva. Regarding the attitude of his colleagues, he said: “Not all Russian diplomats are warmongers. They are reasonable, but they have to keep their mouths shut.”

Image by The Presidential Press and Information Office (Wikimedia)/Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)