The UN accuses Russia of destroying Ukrainian culture, Moscow responds

Shafaq News/ In an Arria formula meeting of the UN Security Council on cultural heritage sites in Ukraine, Western countries accused Russia of destroying Ukrainian culture.

Sergey Leonidchenko, a senior adviser of the Russian mission to the United Nations, drew attention to Albania on the destruction of Serbian cultural sites in Kosovo and the damage to cultural heritage by the actions of the USA and Britain in Iraq and Syria.

“Our Albanian colleagues in the Council spare no effort to produce new narratives regarding Russia’s alleged violations in Ukraine. But, unfortunately, the accusations against our country for the alleged systematic destruction, looting, and sale of Ukrainian cultural assets do not stand up to scrutiny” – Leonidchenko, “it’s just downright a lie,” he said.

The Minister also said that Kosovo could set an excellent example of the genuinely systematic destruction of cultural property along ethnic lines.

“There were nearly 100 Serbian cultural and religious sites destroyed or severely damaged. NATO bombs hit some. The rest were burned, blown up, or destroyed by the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army. Systematic and targeted destruction of cultural property,” he said.

Talking about Ukraine, he noted the actions of the Kyiv regime aimed at eliminating everything Russian in society to turn the neighboring country into an aggressor – “Anti-Russian.”

“This is not just about attacks on the Russian language, history, culture, education. This is a shameful attempt to forcibly Ukrainianize a significant part of the population, depriving people of their basic rights and identity. Only Neo-Nazis do this to their citizens. Can do it,” he said.

Leonidchenko referred to the US as “an unprovoked, unfair electoral war” of the US-led Western coalition against Iraq. According to him, Iraq lost much of its invaluable cultural heritage during this war. “Cities like Mosul have been wiped from the face of the earth, and cultural and religious structures have been in ruins,” the diplomat said.

He said tens of thousands of valuable works were looted in Western countries and are in private collections.

Leonidchenko said that in 2021 alone, Iraq managed to return about 18,000 such products. “Most came from the US and UK, but also the Netherlands, Italy, and Japan,” he added.

He recalled that Great Britain participated on an equal footing with the United States in all NATO military adventures and contributed to the destruction of civilian objects, including cultural ones, during a series of offensive wars waged by this “all-defense alliance.”