�UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2019) Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia and other diplomats from the United Nations member-states paid tribute on Wednesday to late Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who died two years ago.
"Today we commemorate the second anniversary of the sudden and tragic death of Ambassador Vitaly Churkin," Nebenzia told reporters at the UN. "Ambassador Churkin was a true son of his country, a defender of Russian interests, at the same time, he was a champion of multilateralism. He enjoyed great respect of his colleagues."
Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN Kairat Umarov, France's Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre, Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari, and Palestinian envoy to the organization Riyad Mansour were also among the diplomats who attended the commemoration.
"Everyone who worked here or even watched from outside, they were looking at him (Churkin) as if at a diplomatic giant, the person who so zealously defended the country's position, but, at the same time, he actually could find the way to compromise," Umarov said. "Apart from the politics, he was a very humane, caring person, a great intellectual with a very great sense of humor, and he won the hearts of everyone here at the United Nations."
The tribute took place in front of the UN Security Council chamber, where Churkin represented Russia's interests for more than a decade.
"He was born to be here (the Security Council), he was an outstanding diplomat and (had) an outstanding personality, people like this cannot pass unnoticed and leave a place without leaving a mark on it," Nebenzia noted.
Churkin was born in Moscow on February 21, 1952. He served as Russia's permanent envoy to the United Nations and Russian representative to the UN Security Council from April 2006 until his death on February 20, 2017.
The diplomat was buried on February 24, 2017, at a Moscow cemetery.
