“A thief may steal a thing, but that does not give him ownership of it”: Fragments from the diary of the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN about the diplomatic confrontation with Russian aggression in 2014 (part 1)
Journal: FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Year: 2024

From May 2007, when I assumed the position of Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, until February 2014, I saw and understood a lot about the ambitions and real capabilities of the organisation. That the decisions of the main UN body – the General Assembly – are not mandatory, that the UN Security Council (UNSC), whose decisions are imperative, has actually become a field of geopolitical games for its five permanent members, who are unable to either prevent global crises or stop conflic