Russia cannot be 'represented at UN' amid escalating tensions with West: FM Sergey Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday suggested Russia cannot be represented at the United Nations amid the ongoing special military operation in Ukraine and worsening relations with Western countries.

Referring to the UN General Assembly on September 2, Lavrov said "Russia cannot be represented at the U.N. organisation."

"Western countries are not granted to solve these issues," he said during a briefing after ASEAN summit meetings in Phnom Penh adding, "As for the level of our presence there, whether it will be a delegation from Moscow, or, as you said, our American colleagues can prohibit the entry of our delegation in their spirit of freedom – we'll see"

Lavrov also said that Russia is ready to discuss an exchange of prisoners between Russia and U.S. within the framework agreed upon by Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden.

The statement comes as WNBA star Brittney Griner was convicted of drug possession and sentenced to nine years in prison by a Russian court on Thursday in a politically charged case amid ongoing friction over the ongoing special military operation Ukraine.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken went public with that possibility last week, revealing in an unusual announcement that the U.S. had made a "substantial proposal" aimed at securing the release of Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan.

Lavrov also said that he didn't see any concrete proposals by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to settle an escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"It's hard for me to answer this question. Because we didn't see concrete proposals the Armenian Prime Minister wants to bring for a discussion within Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh. Therefore, I can't guess. Any sides of agreements, achieved by presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia, have the right to propose additional initiatives. We can't see them so far," Lavrov told reporters.

Clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces reignited Wednesday in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where three soldiers were reported killed.

Image: AP