INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
It was the middle of an emergency session of the UN Security Council, late on the evening of Feb
presiding over the august body dedicated to defending global peace was also the representative of a nuclear power now waging war against a
democracy...Did he know, when he opened the session and sat listening as his colleagues delivered impassioned pleas for Moscow to pull back
that impression.The Ukrainian ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, regularly asks Nebenzia if he is actually in touch with Moscow.British envoy
Barbara Woodward, a specialist in Russian and Chinese affairs, reminded Nebenzia that "the great Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn
AFP request for an interview.He has, in resigned tones, followed his government's line at emergency meetings of the Council since war broke
But each time he has been careful to note that the word was first used by his boss, Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov."The Russian system has
never been as centralized," said one Western ambassador, speaking anonymously.Russian diplomats "are excellent professionals, but they are
and usually not."Two things at onceAt the UN, Nebenzia is known for his deep mastery of the issues
His career has taken him to Bangkok and Geneva, with a specialty in international organizations
He is fluent in the arcana of multilateral maneuvering and uses his deep understanding of procedure to his country's benefit.Outside the
remained so since the invasion, according to several sources.The ambassador is a man of culture with a sense of humor."I can do two things
at the same time," he told AFP with a smile, after displaying the surprising ability to deliver a speech in Russian while listening to its
English translation simultaneously on his headphones.Russians are trained in this multi-tasking, his aides say
correct any errors on the spot, diplomats say.At diplomatic receptions Nebenzia shows a convivial side
His favorite cocktail? "Half vodka, half Champagne," he once told two French journalists.Married and father of a son, the ambassador likes
Ukraine crisis.But he is never far from the drama these days.On Feb
28, during a news conference marking the end of his month leading Russia's rotating presidency of the Security Council, he abruptly
