A satirical response by Canada’s UN mission to a letter Russia sent to United Nations member states has gone viral.
Instead of responding to the letter in ordinary diplomatic fashion, Canada’s UN mission tweeted a heavily edited version of the letter, using red annotations to point out inaccuracies and making sarcastic comments to correct the letter’s claims.
The March 16 letter from Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia attempted to gain the support of other countries for Russia’s draft resolution on humanitarian help for Ukrainians.
Canada’s UN mission crossed out a part of the letter that said, "Like other members of the international community, we are gravely concerned about its deterioration," referring to the "dire humanitarian situation in and around Ukraine” and replaced it with, "We are not gravely concerned about its deterioration" and added, "because we are the primary cause."
In the second paragraph of the letter, they edited the sentence “The only way to do this is a clear demand on behalf of the UN Security Council to all parties concerned to strictly observe international humanitarian law” to insert the words “for Russia to end its illegal war of aggression and cease hostilities.”
In the next sentence, they edited “Guided by this logic” to say “Guided by this zero logic.”
Then they crossed out “action-oriented, depoliticized, balanced draft resolution” and replaced it with “absolutely craven and farcical implicitly gives cover for our war of aggression and violations of international law.”
A few sentences later, where “Western colleagues” are accused of “politicizing a humanitarian issue,” Canada commented: "Do you think the UN membership actually believes this?"
At the end of the letter, the UN mission commented that they “did not feel this ending sufficiently captured the sheer contempt this letter shows for your fellow UN member states.”
Instead, they suggested that Russia end the letter asking “you to co-sponsor this farcical resolution we have put forward at the Security Council” and suggested they change it to, “We want you to know just how little we care about the human life we have destroyed in Ukraine” and “how much disdain we have for you.”
The Canadian mission's mocking response was later described by Russia’s UN representative Dmitry Polyanskiy as “kindergarten-level libel.”
“It only shows that your diplomatic skills and good manners are at lowest ebb and gives an idea why your country’s bid for a non-permanent seat in [the Security Council] was voted down twice in 20 years by UN membership,” Polyanskiy said in a tweet.