Photo: Vitalii Ivanovich Churkin. Thank you for the Russian 'No' (Galina Bokich)
Diplomats from different countries honored the memory of their colleague Vitaly Churkin, who served as Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN for more than a decade, RIA Novosti reports. The memorial ceremony coincided with the second anniversary of Churkin’s death. Russian diplomat died on February 20, 2017 in New York. Ambassador passed away right in his workplace the day before his 65th birthday. He was buried at Troekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow. Churkin has been the Permanent Representative of Russian Federation to the UN in New York since 2006.
According to Head of Russian Permanent Mission Vasily Nebenzya, Vitaly Churkin was greatly respected by all who worked with him. He expressed gratitude to those who knew the diplomat personally and decided to honor his memory. They were the permanent representatives of Palestine, France, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Syria, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, and Turkmenistan.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that Churkin was a brave and talented man and an outstanding diplomat. According to Minister, one of the most difficult but bright periods of Churkin’s civil service was in the Balkans. Diplomat made a lot of efforts to resolve the crisis in the region. Vitaly Churkin’s colleagues respected him a lot. He is still remembered in the UN. He was a subtle diplomat and a convincing orator. Public speaking was only a small fraction of his work. He constantly tried to establish dialogues with other countries.
Russkiy Mir
