By News Desk – June 2, 2018

BEIRUT, LEBANON (10:10 A.M.) – Russian Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Vasily Nebenzya called on Israel “to end occupation” of Palestine, as the long-running conflict is “the core and the key to solving all other conflicts and puzzles in the Middle East,” in comments from special press conference for the new UN Security Council President New York on Friday.

“I don’t know such a thing as a ‘legitimate occupier’, that’s a new notion for me. There is no such thing as ‘legitimate occupier’. The occupier can only be illegitimate.”

Nebenzya also wished the United States luck in their talks with North Korea.

As the sitting president of the Security Council, he has asked to be briefed on the developments in the Korean peninsula.

On Friday evening, the United States vetoed a Kuwait-drafted resolution requesting ‘international protection’ for Palestinian civilians.

It was also the only country to back its own measure condemning Hamas for the recent violence in the Gaza Strip.