Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, addressed the UN General Assembly on Saturday and accused Western countries of destabilising the world through “force and double standards”, vowing that Moscow's “special military operation” in Ukraine would be “carried through to the end,” the UN website reported.

Quoting President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Lavrov said “the dictatorship of a single hegemon has run amok and is simply dangerous for everyone around it,” arguing that a fairer, multipolar order was emerging as countries of the Global South and East asserted themselves as “sovereign centres of development.”

Mr. Lavrov condemned the United States' seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife earlier this year, and their “extrajudicial detention” in the US, calling for their immediate release.

In a sharp rebuke of the war on Iran, Lavrov characterized the targeting of Iran’s leadership as a profound violation of established diplomatic norms and a dangerous precedent that threatens global stability.

He also denounced the killing of Iran's Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with members of his family and military and political leadership, as “another unacceptable manifestation of coercive diktat.” 

He said the wider US-Israeli campaign had also struck Iranian nuclear facilities under the IAEA safeguards, causing “irreparable damage” to the non-proliferation system overseen by the UN-backed nuclear energy watchdog.

MNA