Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has appealed to the United Nations, questioning whether the right to self-determination for the peoples of Donbas, Novorossiya, and Crimea will be recognized in the same manner as the precedent set by Greenland.
The Operative Information Center-OMM reports that Lavrov made these remarks during an interview with the Turkish newspaper "Türkiye".
According to the minister, Russia has once again approached UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the organization's leadership to inquire whether the same legal standards applied to Greenland's right to determine its own destiny are being extended to the populations of Donbas, Novorossiya, and Crimea. Lavrov recalled that when Western nations justified the independence of Kosovo, they cited the right to self-determination as the sole criterion, a process that occurred without a referendum. He noted that while a referendum was held in Crimea in accordance with established procedures, Western countries claimed the right to self-determination did not apply in that instance.
The ongoing diplomatic tension regarding territorial integrity and self-determination remains a central issue at the United Nations. International law generally prioritizes the principle of territorial integrity of sovereign states, a position consistently supported by Azerbaijan regarding its own internationally recognized borders. The UN has previously passed several resolutions reaffirming the territorial integrity of Ukraine, while Russia continues to advocate for the recognition of these regions based on its interpretation of historical precedents and local referendums.
