Nebenzya Vasily

16th Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations

NEBENZYA, Vasily Alexeyevich (b.1962) is a Russian diplomat and a current Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Born in Volgograd, he graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1983. In 1988-1990 he worked as attaché of the USSR Embassy in Thailand. Then, up to 1996, he developed his career in the central office of the Foreign Ministry of Russia and in the late 1990s he worked at the Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN. Between 2006 and 2006 he was the Deputy Director of the Department of international organizations at MFA of Russia. After that, he served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia at WTO and UN in Geneva. In 2013, he became Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia. Since July 27, 2017, he is Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Implementation of the aggressive foreign policy of the Russian leadership, activities to destroy international law and promoting the Putin regime in the international arena.

Nebenzya’s career take-off occurred during the preparation and implementation of Russian aggression against Ukraine, in which the Foreign Ministry played a crucial role. The Foreign Ministry provided advocacy cover and tried to prevent or weaken the international reaction by lobbying efforts. Nebenzya became Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in February 2014, a few days before the annexation of Crimea. As the permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, he demonstrated absolute loyalty to the Putin regime and the effectiveness in protecting it at the international level.

Nebenzya repeatedly used the UN to justify the crimes of the Russian regime. In accordance with the Soviet tradition, he immediately turns from defense to accusations and insults of his “colleagues” from the USA, UK, and other countries as it happened in the Skripal poisoning case. Nebenzya has always harshly and consistently expressed Kremlin’s position - to support dictatorial and terrorist regimes and sabotage any measures to combat them in order to protect law and restore democracy.

When the anti-democratic regime in Venezuela was in danger, Nebenzya defended Russia's position on the full support of Maduro. He tried to discredit the investigation of the MH17 downing by the Russian missile system. He also tried to prevent the investigation into the Russian airstrikes in the Syrian province of Idlib, initiated by the UN Secretary-General. In February 2018, Vasily Nebenzya publicly demanded from the American envoy to stop using the phrase “Putin’s regime”, thereby justifying numerous violations of human rights and the dictatorial regime in Russia.