“When you are alone and, rightly or wrongly, you risk becoming a victim of violence, it is extremely important to know that there is someone who supports you and tries to protect you,” said Bondarev. For this, she would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Swiss UN mission in Geneva and to the Swiss government.
After his resignation to protest against the war in Ukraine, Bondarev, as the world’s first official representative of Russia, wants to stay in Switzerland for the time being and try to find a new job. It weighs all your options, including those related to applying for asylum in Switzerland or another country.
“Criminal proceedings as good as certain”
Bondarev said his statements and open criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were considered crimes in Russia. “I am considered not only a member of the opposition, as a diplomat I am also a civil servant. So the criminal case is almost certain for me. ” He is afraid for his family, close and close friends.
Bondarev said he had given up on his own conscience. “I wanted to change something, to be an inspiration for my colleagues, for diplomats and other Russian citizens who live in Russia and think that there is nothing they can do on their own.” But he had a different opinion. “You can always get up and tell the truth about the things you perceive.”
In an interview, he repeated his criticism of Russia’s leadership. “Russian foreign policy today is very loud, very strict, but ineffective.” Regarding his personal motivation to quit, he said, “Suddenly I began to understand that as a diplomat I was doing things that were against what I wanted to do.” He said silence was not an option for him.
Crimes against the Ukrainian and Russian people
The UN councilor in Geneva resigned on Monday after 20 years in protest against Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin’s aggressive war against Ukraine is a crime against the Ukrainian and Russian people, he wrote on the LinkedIn platform.
After his release, the Kremlin distanced itself from the man. “Probably one can only say here that Mr. Bondarev no longer belongs to us – rather that he is against us,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday in Moscow. To date, 66 diplomats have been accredited by the Permanent Mission of Russia to the United Nations and international organizations in Geneva.
(SDA)