By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 10 -- The US has announced that Ukraine's Arseniy Yatsenyuk will meet with President Barack Obama on March 12; he has added he will address the UN Security Council on March 13.
But if UNSC Permanent Five member Russia does not recognize Yatsenyuk, can he? On Syria, France and others declared that Ahmad al Jarba is the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. But he was confined to a Friends of Syria meeting down the hall from the Security Council, and before that a faux "UN briefing" with the UN's Gulf & Western media club.
Yuriy Sergeyev has addressed the Security Council at least four times in the last ten days. But he was Ukraine's Ambassador under Yanukovych: he is automatically recognized. With Yatsenuk, it may be different.
When the UN Security Council was debating Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the US problematized their representatives getting visas to come address the UN. The US can and will let in Yatsenyuk, into the country - but will Russia, into the UN Security Council?
On March 7 with little fanfare, Ukraine's Ambassador Sergeyev went into basement Conference Room 3. Outside the sign simply said, "GRULAC: Grulac meeting [Closed]."
GRULAC is the Latin American and Caribbean Group at the UN. Sergeyev told Inner City Press he is trying to brief each regional group. But why have it closed?
Inner City Press staked out the meeting, as upstairs the farewell of Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky was partially held in the room the UN gives to the UN Correspondents Association, which has become the UN's Censorship Alliance. Bottoms up!
Throughout the day the rumor grew that there would be another emergency meeting on Saturday, if only to further raise the profile of the issues. At Friday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked the departing Nesirky again about the leaked EU - Estonia audio that the same snipers shot protesters and police.
Nesirky again declined to comment on the audio, saying it may or may not be authentic (Estonia has said it is). But he said these seemed like the type of issues on which the UN's Ivan Simonovic will conduct "fact finding." We'll see.
In terms of fact finding: in Crimea, how long was UN envoy Robert Serry held? By whom?
A day after UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson told the media Serry was threatened and told to leave Crimea, got in his car which could not move, then walked to his hotel, the story was contradicted, or exaggerated.
Inner City Press asked Ukraine's Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev about Serry. Sergeyev, at the UNTV stakeout, said that "Russian... kept him a long time."
Sergeyev added that Russians now come into Crimea pretending to be tourists, for example from Kazakhstan. He told a Russian reporter that the only movement of displaced people is to Western Ukraine.
Inner City Press asked Sergeyev about the sanctions announced by the US in the morning, and how things are going with the IMF. Sergeyev said his government is getting "good signals" from the IMF, and that the sanctions announcements also "send signals." Then he went into the UN Security Council, where a meeting for members only, convened by the UK, was taking place.
Four hours after the US announced Ukraine related sanctions, Inner City Press asked UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky if the UN had any comment on what some of its member states, including Russia, call unhelpful and even illegal "unilateral" sanctions.
No, Nesirky said, no comment on the actions of individual countries in this regard. But of course, the UN Secretariat does have comments on actions by Russia.
Nesirky was asked if the UN considers Crimea under occupation. He replied that UN envoy Robert Serry felt a certain presence there. One wag - this one - asked, poltergeist?
Pressed, Nesirky referred the press to Serry's interview with "Wolf Blitzer on CNN." To some it seemed, while the UN said Serry would have no press availability today, the UN was proud to get Serry - on CNN.
Inner City Press asked Nesirky to confirm Serry's quotes to UAA, that he probably wouldn't go back to Crimea and would leave Ukraine on Saturday. Nesirky said he'd check. The UN's Jan Eliasson is slated to brief the Security Council by video at 2:30, in a meeting Inner City Press, as early at 7 am, was told was requested by the UK. We'll be there.
