US official criticizes Russian foreign minister for short stay during UN meeting about Ukraine
From CNN's Kylie Atwood
A US official criticized Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for only being at the United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine for a short time and skipping the Russian criticism from Western diplomats.
"Lavrov apparently couldn’t bear to hear the clear and repeated messages of condemnation of Russia’s war against Ukraine. He walked into the chamber just before his speaking slot and left shortly after," the US official said.
The official said it was a sign of Russian weakness.
"It’s another sign of weakness and a testament to the fact that Russians recognize they are increasingly isolated on the world stage," the official said.
CNN has reached out to Russian officials to explain why Lavrov was only in the chamber for his own remarks.
1:38 p.m. ET, September 22, 2022
Finnish prime minister says country ready to take action to put "an end" to Russian tourism
From CNN’s Sugam Pokharel in London
Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin attends a press conference in Kongens Lyngby, outside of Copenhagen, Denmark on August 30. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images)
Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin told parliament Thursday that her government is ready to take action to put “an end” to Russian tourism and transit through Finland, according to Finnish public broadcaster Yle.
"We have to put an end to Russian travel and tourism, how to do this is a more complicated question," Marin told reporters after the parliament session, Yle reported.
"The assessment has to be done very quickly," Marin said.
This comes as traffic on Finland’s eastern border with Russia intensified overnight on Thursday after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "partial mobilization.”
Social media video from Russia's land borders with several countries shows long lines of traffic trying to leave the country.
“If the security situation at border crossings is assessed to have deteriorated, new solutions are possible to limit visas, for example restricting border crossings from Russia to Finland,” Marin said, according to Yle.
Family visits will still be allowed under any new restrictions, the broadcaster reported.
1:35 p.m. ET, September 22, 2022
China refuses to place blame on war in Ukraine and calls for "neutrality" in war crimes probe
From CNN's Caitlin Hu
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks at the UN Security Council meeting on September 22. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images)
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke more vaguely than his counterparts at the United Nations Security Council Thursday, calling for “neutrality” from UN agencies and adding that any investigation into war crimes in Ukraine be “based on facts, not assumption of guilt.”
He laid out several proposals, calling for Russia and Ukraine to commit to "dialogue without preconditions," and for all parties to prevent attacks on civilians and civilian facilities (an accusation levied by Russia, as well as by Ukraine and the West).
Wang Yi also said that China supports the International Atomic Energy Agency amid concerns over nuclear posturing in the conflict and over the safety of the Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
“There is no room for trial and error” when it comes to nuclear issues, he said.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin conceded last week that Beijing had “questions and concerns” over the invasion, in what appeared to be a veiled admission of their diverging views on the military assault.
12:28 p.m. ET, September 22, 2022
Blinken says Russia "shredded" international order and the world "can't let President Putin get away with it"
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during the UN Security Council meeting amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine on September 22. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
At a United Nations Security Council meeting Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “the very international order we’ve gathered here to uphold is being shredded before our eyes” by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The world “can’t let President (Vladimir) Putin get away with it,” Blinken told his fellow diplomats.
“That President Putin picked this week, as most of the world gathers at the United Nations, to add fuel to the fire he started shows his utter contempt and disdain for the UN Charter, the UN General Assembly, and this Council,” Blinken said.
“President Putin is making his choice. Now it’s up to all of our countries to make ours. Tell President Putin to stop the horror he started," Blinken continued. "Tell him to stop putting his interests above the interests of the rest of the world, including his own people. Tell him to stop debasing this Council and everything it stands for."
Blinken said the areas of Ukraine that were occupied by Russia offered a view into that “less peaceful world,” noting, “wherever the Russian tide recedes, we’ve discovered the horror that’s left in its wake” — Bucha, Irpin, Izyum, where mass graves have been discovered, survivors have recounted acts of torture.
The top US diplomat called on Russia to cease its nuclear saber rattling, calling Putin’s threat to use “all weapon systems available” to Russia “all the more menacing given Russia’s intention to annex large swaths of Ukraine in the days ahead.”
Blinken also stressed the impact the war was having globally on food security, and called out Russian disinformation on WHO-approved vaccine effectiveness.
1:49 p.m. ET, September 22, 2022
Lavrov arrives to Security Council meeting about Ukraine nearly 1.5 hours after it started
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrives to the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine on September 22. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov walked into the UN Security Council meeting at approximately 11:30 a.m. ET and took his seat at the table, nearly 1.5 hours late.
The council is discussing the maintenance of peace and security in Ukraine.
12:22 p.m. ET, September 22, 2022
"The echoes of Nuremberg should be heard today," ICC prosecutor for Ukraine tells UN Security Council
From CNN's Jonny Hallam
The bodies of civilians killed by russian soldiers were found near the village of Myrotske in Bucha, Ukraine on June 13. (Anna Opareniuk/Ukrinform/Abaca/Sipa USA)
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan on Thursday said that he believes alleged war crimes have been committed in Ukraine after he visited the country three times to investigate the war.
"One has seen a variety of destruction of suffering, and that fortifies my determination. And my previous finding that there are reasonable grounds to believe the crimes within the jurisdiction of the court have been committed," Khan said to members of the United Nations Security Council during their meeting Thursday.
During his update to the Security Council, Khan spoke candidly of the brutal horrors he had seen in Ukraine.
"When I went to Bucha and went behind St. Andrew's Church, the bodies I saw were not fake. When I walked the streets of Borodyanka, the destruction that I saw of buildings and schools was all too real,” Khan said. “When I left Kharkiv, the bombs I heard land, gave a somber insight and a very small insight into the awful reality that is faced by well many of our brothers and sisters and children that are in a war zone."
Making reference to the Nuremberg trials that prosecuted defeated Nazis after World War II, Khan said, "The echoes of Nuremberg should be heard today."
"Failure to uphold the promises of Nuremberg, we have seen over the last many decades to act as a reproach on all of us as leaders, not to despair or to despondency, but acts as a catalyst for further action to galvanize us as a council as international organizations and as humanity." he said.
11:30 a.m. ET, September 22, 2022
EU entry for people leaving Russia will be up to individual member states, commission says
From CNN's Lauren Kent in London
The European Union is planning to establish a joint position on requests for entry made by Russian citizens fleeing their own country, a spokesperson for the European Commission said during a news conference Thursday.
The European Commission also noted that for now, each member state will need to assess entry requests on a case-by-case basis, adding that external border management of the EU must be carried out in line with EU law and comply with "fundamental rights and all of the legislation in place for asylum procedures."
Another spokesperson, the EU's lead for external affairs Peter Stano, said the EU is watching what is happening right now in Russia following Putin's announcement of so-called "partial mobilization."
"There have been protests in a number of cities across Russia. During these protests, more than 1,300 people have been detained," Stano told reporters, according to EU monitoring. "And this is showing that the Russians are voting with their feet, basically, on Putin's regime and on Putin's actions."
"We take also note of the reports that are indicating that a lot of Russians are leaving the country in a legal pathway, in a legal way. They go on train on car, and they leave through the borders, or they take flights to Turkey to Serbia to Emirates. This is what we are seeing is happening," Stano said.
"We as European Union, in principle, we stand in solidarity with the Russian citizens who have the courage and bravery to show their opposition to what the regime is doing, especially when it comes to this illegal war in Ukraine," he said, adding that concrete decisions when it comes to visa policy is in the hands of individual members states.
Asked about the numerous requests for entry from Russia, another European Commission spokesperson Eric Mamer said, "We will need to have a joint position at the EU level."
10:22 a.m. ET, September 22, 2022
Long lines of traffic seen at some of Russia's land borders
From Tim Lister, Clare Sebastian, Uliana Pavlova and Anastasia Graham-Yooll
Cars coming from Russia wait in long lines at the border checkpoint between Russia and Finland near Vaalimaa, on September 22. (Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images)
Social media video from Russia's land borders with several countries shows long lines of traffic trying to leave the country on the day after President Vladimir Putin announced a "partial mobilization."
There were queues at border crossings into Kazakhstan, Georgia and Mongolia. One video showed dozens of vehicles lining up at the Zemo Larsi/Verkhny Lars checkpoint on the Georgia-Russia border overnight Wednesday. That line appears to have grown longer Thursday. One video showed a long queue stretching into the mountains behind the crossing, with a man commenting that it was five to six kilometers long.
Another posted Thursday showed long lines at the Khaykhta crossing into Mongolia.
One man spoke over video recorded at the Troitsk crossing into Kazakhstan, where dozens of cars were lined up Thursday morning. "This is Troitsk, queues of trucks and passenger vehicles ... you can't see the start or the end of this queue ... everyone, everyone is fleeing Russia, all sorts."
A senior Kazakh official, Maulen Ashimbaev, had said Kazakhstan could not restrict the entry of Russian citizens into the country, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported earlier Thursday. But Ashimbaev, the speaker of the upper house of the Kazakh parliament, said that in order to obtain a residence permit, applicants must have a set of documents that comply with the law.
It is difficult to compare the current flow of traffic to the average in the absence of official data.
Flights from Russia to countries that do not require visas continue to be very busy and frequently sold out. A search on the Aviasales website showed there were no seats available on Moscow-Istanbul one-way economy flights until Sunday — with the lowest price almost $2,900.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday dismissed reports of airports crowded with people trying to leave Russia following the announcement, calling it "exaggeration" and "fake news."
10:02 a.m. ET, September 22, 2022
Putin's "partial mobilization" is a "mistake," Macron tells CNN
French President Emmanuel Macron gives an interview to CNN's Jake Tapper on September 21. (CNN)
Macron also said it was a missed opportunity to “go to a way towards peace.”
“A few months ago Vladimir Putin conveys a message: ‘I was aggressed by NATO, they triggered the situation and I just reacted.’ Now, it’s clear for everybody that the leader who decided to go to war, the leader who decided to escalate is President Putin,” Macron said in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper.
“And I have no rational explanation,” he added, calling the invasion the “strategy of Germany intervention” and a “post-Covid-19 consequence” due to Putin’s isolation during the pandemic.
