What next? Mr. Bean? UNSC diplomat lampoons Russian invite to Pink Floyd's Roger Waters to speak on Ukraine war

Geneva: Russia has asked co-founder of renowned UK rock band Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, to speak at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday about the “peaceful settlement” of the Ukrainian crisis “in the context of growing Western military supplies”.

“Russia has requested the participation of UK peace activist and famous rock musician Roger Waters as a speaker during the UN Security Council meeting on peaceful settlement prospects of the Ukrainian crisis in the context of growing Western military supplies to this country,” Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said Tuesday on his Telegram channel.

‘What next? Mr. Bean?’

A report by Reuters quoted a UNSC diplomat, speaking under anonymity, as saying: “Russian diplomacy used to be serious. What next? Mr. Bean?”

Roger Waters to sing?

Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, “Let’s see what he will say. He has a position and you will hear it tomorrow,” jokingly adding: “Perhaps he will sing to us, too.”

Last year, Waters’ concerts in Poland were cancelled over his remarks on the Ukraine war.

On 5 September last year, Waters published an open letter to Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska on his website.

In the letter, he wrote: “BBC quotes you as saying that ‘If support for Ukraine is strong, the crisis will be shorter.’ Hmmm? I guess that might depend on what you mean by ‘support for Ukraine’? If by ‘support for Ukraine’ you mean the West continuing to supply arms to the Kyiv government’s armies, I fear you may be tragically mistaken.”

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He also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of not fulfilling his election campaign promises to bring peace to the Donbas region and “extreme nationalism”, urging him to end the war.

“One can only assume that your husband’s electoral policies didn’t sit well with certain political factions in Kiev and that those factions persuaded your husband to diametrically change course ignoring the peoples’ mandate,” Waters added.

Also Read: Troubled (Roger) Waters: Why were Pink Floyd co-founder’s gigs cancelled in Poland?

Zelenska responded to Waters letter on Twitter, saying that it was Russia which invaded Ukraine and is now destroying its cities as well as killing thousands of civilians.

“Roger Waters, you should ask for peace from the president of another country,” she added.

Since Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine on 24 February, 2022, the 15-member UNSC met dozens of times but it has not been able to take any action because Russia is a veto power, along with the US, China, Britain and France.

With inputs from agencies

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