Lammy launches into bizarre slavery rant at UN meeting as he rages at ‘Putin’s imperialism’

Foreign Secretary David Lammy ripped into Russia at the UN today in an extraordinary tirade referencing slavery, “Putin’s imperialism” and his African heritage.

Addressing delegates at the United Nations’ HQ in New York City, Lammy directly took aim at Russia’s envoy to the organisation, Vasily Nebenzya, as he “called out” imperialism.

Lammy said: “I say to the Russian representative, on his phone as I speak, that I stand here also as a black man whose ancestors were taken in chains from Africa, at the barrel of a gun to be enslaved.”

The Foreign Secretary referenced how his ancestors “rose up and fought in a great rebellion of the enslaved” before taking a veiled swipe at Britain’s colonial past.

He continued: “Imperialism. I know it when I see it, and I will call it out for what it is.

“This week, when I’m here talking to other partners around the world about our shared futures and the future of the UN, Russia is trying to return us to a world of the past.

“A world of imperialism. A world of redrawing borders by force. A world without the UN charter. We cannot allow this to happen.”

Once again talking up Britain’s steadfast support for Ukraine – Lammy has personally pushed to outfit Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces with UK-made Storm Shadow missiles – the Foreign Secretary added to his anti-Russian remarks.

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“Ukraine’s fight matters to all of us,” he said, before continuing: “The UK will remain Ukraine’s staunchest supporter.”

Lammy’s address has won praise and raised eyebrows alike.

The Foreign Secretary later referred to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as the premier’s personal project to “expand his mafia state into a mafia empire” – which won plaudits from former Guardian Russia correspondent Luke Harding, who labelled his speech “blistering”.

But the Russians at the session weren’t so convinced.

Dmitry Polyanskiy, the first deputy permanent representative of Russia to the UN, said: “It was sickening to hear from David Lammy in the UN Security Council today.

Polyanskiy referenced a common Russian line on the phrase “Slava Ukraini”, adding: “Not only dubious lectures on how his ancestors defeated imperialism, but also articulating slogans of Ukrainian nationalists and Nazi collaborators!”

But the bickering at the UN came ahead of a sobering warning from Vladimir Putin himself.

Opening a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, the 71-year-old president warned that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional missiles, and that Moscow would consider any assault on it supported by nuclear power to be a joint attack.

“The conditions for Russia’s transition to the use of nuclear weapons are also clearly fixed,” Putin said, adding that Moscow would consider such a move if it detected the start of a massive launch of missiles, aircraft or drones against it.

Russia reserved the right to also use nuclear weapons if it or its ally Belarus were the subject of aggression, including by conventional weapons, Putin added.