British UN ambassador said Russia’s peace plans in Syria are a “sham”

The British Ambassador to the United Nations delivered a blistering speech during Saturday’s Security Council meeting condemning Russian airstrikes in Aleppo saying that Moscow’s claims to wanting a lasting peace in Syria were a sham before walking out of the meeting.

Matthew Rycroft’s grandstanding act, modeled after US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power’s orchestrated walk-out one week earlier, shows the growing divide between Russia and Western powers on the appropriate manner and method to deal with the crisis in Syria that has left over 400,000 dead since the war began.

Speaking to his Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin, Rycroft said that Moscow’s support of Syria’s offensive against the Al-Nusra Front terror group “show just how hollow Russia’s commitment to the political process is” calling Russian diplomacy nothing more than a “sham.”

“Instead of investing energy in peace and diplomacy, you have instead supported, facilitated and cooperated with the Syrian regime to retake and destroy any areas standing against Assad,” said Rycroft before the Security Council. “Killing off, literally, those who want a moderate, peaceful and pluralistic future.”