"I know how the UNSC works. I have almost no doubt that [Ukraine's] permanent representative would not have done this on his own. This means that he was ordered to do it," Lavrov elaborated.
"This goes against Christian values. It's beyond good and evil. Thanks to the current Ukrainian authorities, however, we are accustomed to the fact that someone in their country treats Russians, and anyone who refuses to dance to the pipe of neo-Nazis, precisely like that," Lavrov said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also commented that Ukraine's behavior is "not at all as important as the loss that Russia's diplomacy had suffered."
Earlier in the day, Lavrov wrote a note in the Book of Condolences of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow in memory of with the death of Churkin and laid flowers at the portrait of the Russian envoy at the ministerial building.
"Today, we begin our work in honoring our superlative diplomat Vitaly Churkin, our prominent diplomat, who suddenly passed away yesterday in his workplace, which he had always considered to be a battlefield," Lavrov said ahead of the negotiations with Wallstrom.
The actions which the United Nations carry out to help those in need are made possible by the determination of international representatives to find compromises among their vast differences, Lavrov stressed.
"To defend your country’s interest without leading to confrontation, to always look for opportunities to join efforts on the basis of the balance of interests are the main qualities of a diplomat," Lavrov pointed out.
Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin passed away on Monday, February 20, in New York. Churkin had served as Russia's permanent representative to the UN and the Russian representative in the UN Security Council from April 2006. The diplomat would have turned 65 on Tuesday, February 21.
