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Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters [Mary Altaffer/AP Photo]
By Mersiha Gadzo and Usaid Siddiqui
Published On 24 Sep 2022
  • In a UN General Assembly speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has criticised Western nations for their “grotesque” fear of Russia, telling the United Nations that such states were seeking to “destroy” his country.
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin signs amendments toughening punishment for voluntary surrender and refusal to fight by up to 10 years in prison just days after ordering a partial mobilisation.
24 Sep 2022 - 20:38
 (20:38 GMT)

At least 747 protesters arrested in Russia

At least 747 people have been arrested in fresh protests in Russia against the partial mobilisation ordered by Putin.

The human rights portal ovd.info reported arrests in a total of 32 cities across the country. These are only the men and women known by name – there could be considerably more people in custody, it said.

At least 380 arrests were reported from Moscow and 125 in St Petersburg.

24 Sep 2022 - 19:43
 (19:43 GMT)

Zelenskyy tells Russians Putin knowingly ‘sending citizens to their death’

Zelenskyy has made an appeal to Russians, saying their president was knowingly “sending citizens to their death”.

Zelenskyy called on Moscow’s forces to surrender, saying: “You will be treated in a civilised manner … no one will know the circumstances of your surrender.”

It came just hours after Russia passed a law toughening punishments for voluntary surrender and desertion.

24 Sep 2022 - 19:24
 (19:24 GMT)

In Russia’s far east, fear and defiance against military call-up

Long queues form at Russia’s borders as men try to leave the country as they fear being called up to fight in Ukraine.

Read the story by Niko Vorobyov here.

Police officers detain a man following calls to protest against partial mobilisation announced by the Russian president in Moscow [File: Alexander Nemenov/AFP]
24 Sep 2022 - 18:47
 (18:47 GMT)

Russia says it had ‘no choice’ but to take military action in Ukraine

Lavrov has said at the UNGA that Moscow had “no choice” but to take military action in Ukraine.

At the heart of his address was a claim that the US and its allies are aggressively undermining the international system that the UN represents – not, as the West maintains, the other way around.

“The future of the world is being decided today,” Lavrov said, adding, “the question is whether or not it is going to be the kind of order with one hegemon at the head of it.”

24 Sep 2022 - 18:26
 (18:26 GMT)

Lavrov calls US ‘self-proclaimed master of the world’: AJ correspondent

Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, reporting from the UN in New York, says Lavrov’s speech was mostly “directed at the US”, which he called the “self-proclaimed master of the world”.

“He accused Ukraine of threatening Russia’s security and the US of using Ukraine to get to Russia,” Saloomey said.

“He had a long list of grievances against the US, whether referring to their refusal to listen to Russia’s concerns about what was happening in former Soviet countries that he claimed Russia had been trying to work with, to the use of sanctions. He called the illegal use of sanctions as being a threat to development in countries around the world.

“He accused the West of continuing to block Russian fertiliser from getting out to markets so that farmers around the world can plant crops. This is a concern that the UN has. Western sanctions would argue that their sanctions are not blocking Russia, that the sanctions have been removed.”

24 Sep 2022 - 18:04
 (18:04 GMT)

Russian FM slams West for ‘grotesque’ Russophobia

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has bitterly criticised Western nations for their “grotesque” fear of Russia, telling the United Nations that such states were seeking to “destroy” his country.

“The official Russophobia in the West is unprecedented, now the scope is grotesque,” Lavrov said in a fiery UN General Assembly speech.

“They are not shying away from declaring the intent to inflict not only military defeat on our country but also to destroy and fracture Russia.”

24 Sep 2022 - 18:00
 (18:00 GMT)

Lavrov says US trying to ‘turn the entire world into its own backyard’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said at the annual gathering at the United Nations that Washington is trying to “turn the entire world into its own backyard” through sanctions.

“It’s pure, unadulterated dictatorship, or an attempt to impose it,” Lavrov said.

The US has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow following the February invasion of Ukraine.

24 Sep 2022 - 16:41
 (16:41 GMT)

China FM calls on Russia, Ukraine not to let war ‘spill over’

China at the United Nations has urged Russia and Ukraine not to let the effects of their war “spill over” and called for a diplomatic resolution.

“We call on all parties concerned to keep the crisis from spilling over and to protect the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in an address at the UN General Assembly.

24 Sep 2022 - 16:39
 (16:39 GMT)

Duma may consider annexation of occupied parts on Thursday: TASS

The Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, may debate bills incorporating Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine into Russia on September 29, the TASS news agency has reported, citing an unnamed source.

Voting is due to finish on Tuesday.

24 Sep 2022 - 16:34
 (16:34 GMT)

Criticism mounts from Russian officials over partial mobilisation

The head of the Russian president’s human rights commission, Valery Fadeyev, has criticised the military for the mobilisation of reservists to fight in Ukraine.

Fadeyev called on Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to put a halt to the brutal manner with which many draft boards were proceeding. Even men who had no combat experience had been given conscription orders, he said.

Some 300,000 reservists are to be mobilised to fight in Ukraine. But in the Siberian region of Yakutia, the head of the Sakha Republic Aysen Nikolayev admitted that mistakes had been made.

“Reservists were drafted incorrectly, they have to be sent back. The work has already begun,” Fadeyev said.

24 Sep 2022 - 16:24
 (16:24 GMT)

More than 700 detained in Russian anti-mobilisation protests: NGO

Russian authorities have detained more than 700 people at protests against partial mobilisation ordered this week by Putin, according to independent monitoring group OVD-Info.

The police monitoring group counted at least 707 people detained in 32 cities across Russia, nearly half of them in Moscow, at rallies following the partial mobilisation designed to bolster Russia’s operation in Ukraine.

Unsanctioned rallies are illegal under Russian law, which also forbids any activity considered to defame the armed forces.

24 Sep 2022 - 16:21
 (16:21 GMT)

Complaints about Russia’s chaotic mobilisation grow louder

The stridently pro-Kremlin editor of Russia’s state-run RT news channel has expressed anger that enlistment officers were sending call-up papers to the wrong men as frustration about a military mobilisation grew across Russia.

“It has been announced that privates can be recruited up to the age of 35. Summonses are going to 40-year-olds,” the RT editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, railed on her Telegram channel.

“They’re infuriating people, as if on purpose, as if out of spite. As if they’d been sent by Kyiv.”

24 Sep 2022 - 16:17
 (16:17 GMT)

North Macedonia urges united stance against Russia

North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski has called for a united global stance against Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Addressing delegates at the UN General Assembly in New York, Kovachevski said Russia’s invasion and occupation of its smaller neighbour’s territory had set a “dangerous and impermissible precedent”.

Kovachevski also said his country aligns itself with democratic principles and is “committed to peace and to finding dialogue-based solutions”.

24 Sep 2022 - 16:12
 (16:12 GMT)

Six more grain ships leave Ukraine under Istanbul deal: Turkey

Six more ships have left Ukrainian ports under the historic Istanbul grain export deal, the Turkish defence ministry has said.

A ministry statement did not disclose the ships’ points of departure or destinations.

Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul on July 22 to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports after they were paused when the Russia-Ukraine war began in February.

24 Sep 2022 - 15:30
 (15:30 GMT)

‘Significant’ influx of cars trying to cross from Russia to Georgia: Ministry

Russian authorities have said there is a “significant” influx of cars trying to cross from Russia into Georgia, days after Russia announced partial mobilisation.

“There is a significant congestion of private vehicles… around 2,300” waiting to pass one checkpoint along the border, said the local interior ministry in a Russian region that borders Georgia.

The ministry urged people “to refrain from travelling” in the direction of Georgia. It added that movement at the checkpoint was “difficult” and that additional traffic officers had been deployed.

The introduction of partial mobilisation in Russia on Wednesday sparked a new exodus out of the country.

24 Sep 2022 - 15:02
 (15:02 GMT)

Russian-backed separatists hail votes on joining Russia

Ukrainians are reporting that armed soldiers have been going door-to-door getting people to vote on whether four Moscow-controlled regions of eastern and southern Ukraine should formally join Russia.

Officials say some residents have been threatened with punishment if they do not vote. The referendums are taking place over five days in Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson.

Kyiv and its Western allies say the vote is a sham and an unlawful land grab. Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo reports from Kyiv.

24 Sep 2022 - 14:26
 (14:26 GMT)

Mazda discussing ending production in Russia: Report

Japan’s Mazda Motor Corporation is discussing ending production of its vehicles at a joint venture plant in Vladivostok, eastern Russia, the Nikkei newspaper has reported.

The Japanese automaker, which sold 30,000 cars in Russia last year, said in March that exports of parts to the plant were going to end and production would cease when stocks ran out. It operates the plant with Russian automaker Sollers.

Mazda has not made a decision about ending car sales and maintenance operations in Russia, the newspaper said. There was no timeframe for stopping production at the Vladivostok plant.

24 Sep 2022 - 13:56
 (13:56 GMT)

Russia toughens penalty for voluntary surrender, refusal to fight

Putin has signed amendments toughening punishment for voluntary surrender and refusal to fight by up to 10 years in prison, just days after ordering a partial mobilisation.

A separate law, also signed on Saturday, facilitates access to Russian citizenship for foreigners who enlist in the Russian army, following the mobilisation designed to increase the ranks of his army fighting a military operation in Ukraine.

24 Sep 2022 - 13:51
 (13:51 GMT)

Protest in Kyiv against Kremlin’s referendums

Up to 100 people from Mariupol have gathered in Kyiv to protest against the Kremlin-organised referendums being held in their hometown over the possibility of Russian annexation.

Covered in Ukrainian flags, with posters reading “Russia killed 100 thousand people of Mariupol” and “Mariupol is Ukraine”, people who fled their city came to the square near the refugee centre “I am Mariupol”.

“We gathered people from Mariupol to say ‘no’ to these fake referendums. The invaders, the occupants came to our city and they want to take from us our Mariupol. They ruined the city, killed thousands of people, and now they are doing some kind of profanation over there,” the head of “I am Mariupol” centre, Vladyslav Kildishov, told The Associated Press news agency.

24 Sep 2022 - 13:29
 (13:29 GMT)

NATO promises more help for Ukraine in response to ‘sham’ votes

NATO says it will never recognise Russia’s referendums in occupied regions of Ukraine. The alliance has called on all states to reject what it is calling a blatant attempt at territorial conquest. Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen reports from Berlin.