The European Union Ambassador to Lebanon, Ralph Tarraf, met with President Michel Aoun on Friday at the presidential palace in Baabda and praised Lebanon for voting against Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.
“I am here today to thank Lebanon, on behalf of the European Union and its Member States, for its position in the United Nations General Assembly on the crisis in Ukraine,” Tarraf said after the meeting with the Lebanese president.
“It is an unjustified and unprovoked military action that violates international law and undermines European and global security and stability,” he added.
The EU Ambassador said that Lebanon understood the “meaning of this fight” due to the many invasions and interventions the Lebanese people and their country faced.
He noted that Lebanon, as the founding state of the United Nations, has “remained faithful to the principles of non-resort to the use force and the peaceful settlement.”
On Wednesday, Lebanon joined the world in condemning Russian military aggression against Ukraine, along with 140 countries, during the United Nations General Assembly.
Lebanon was fast to issue a statement at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, urging Russia to halt its military operations, withdraw its forces, and revert to a peaceful dialogue.
Russia’s Ambassador to Lebanon criticized this move, saying that the Lebanese Foreign Ministry’s statement “does not take into account the friendly relations between the two countries.” He even implied consequences to Lebanon’s stance.
On the ground, a group of Russian nationals in Lebanon staged a peaceful demonstration in front of their embassy in Beirut on Thursday, expressing their solidarity with their country and its military action.
Ukraine has been experiencing a massive displacement of its citizens and foreign residents seeking refuge in neighboring countries Poland and Romania.
Thousands of Lebanese nationals are among them, enduring hardships to make it to the borders to find their way back home. Over a hundred of them have so far made it safely to Beirut these past 2 days, and more are still stranded in Ukraine, Romania, and Poland.
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