Permanent Mission of Russia
Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations 🇷🇺
136 East 67 Street, New York, N.Y. 10065
One of our last meetings was with one of the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia. We were honored to meet Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy, the First Deputy Permanent Representative. Due to Russia’s important role in the Security Council, we naturally began the discussion there. Ambassador Polyanskiy supports the veto because he believes it keeps nations from making extreme decisions, as they recognize the potential veto. He does believe, however, there should be some type of reform in the council. Ambassador Polyanskiy hopes to see the Security Council reflect the wide range of UN membership. The collective west is over represented, and thus redundant, while there is far too little representation in the Asia region. However, Ambassador Polyanskiy worries about reforming the Security Council by increasing membership, as he believes it would decrease efficiency by extending the length of meetings.
The second half of our discussion was focused on Russia’s relationship with the United States as well as the massive issue of fake news in our modern world. Ambassador Polyanskiy gave several examples of instances where Russia was accused of a certain crime, and despite a lack of supporting evidence, the narrative was set and people refused to change their opinion on the situation. Even if Russia countered the accusations with evidence or a demonstration of flawed logic, they were never given the space to speak and present their case. News outlets, especially western media companies, continue to release stories that are not truly substantiated. This results in sanctions and damage to bilateral relations that Ambassador Polyanskiy says Russia does not deserve. Ambassador Polyanskiy stressed that people must always question what they hear, as well as look at situations from a variety of sources with differing views. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet with Ambassador Polyanskiy and we thank his staff for arranging the meeting!
