Russian Diplomat Quits in Rare Public Protest Over War in Ukraine
- Envoy at UN Mission in Geneva is first to denounce Putin’s war
- Bondarev said colleagues ‘seriously’ discuss nuclear strikes
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A diplomat at Russia’s United Nations mission in Geneva has resigned in protest at President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, becoming the first envoy to publicly criticize the war.
“Putin has become both a war criminal and a dictator,” Boris Bondarev, 41, who was involved in disarmarment work at the mission, said in a phone interview Monday. “I can’t work with colleagues who seriously talk about launching nuclear strikes on the suburbs of Washington to scare the Americans into surrendering. These conversations have become more and more frequent.”