MOSCOW. Nov 17 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley of lying and said she has created a new phenomenon, "fake diplomacy."
"What Ms. Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has said about her inability to reach our representative Vasily Nebenzya on the phone in the past few days to coordinate a common text [of the resolution extending the mandate of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism probing chemical-arms incidents in Syria] is an out-and-out lie," Lavrov said at a press conference on Friday.
"Perhaps we are witnessing a new phenomenon in international relations, when there's not just fake news but also fake diplomacy," Lavrov said.
Employees of the Russian Mission did not reject their U.S. counterparts' attempts to discuss the drafts, Lavrov said. "Experts held a meeting, and we explained our point of view. The Americans used some cosmetic phrases to pretend that they were taking our concerns into consideration. That was not so," Lavrov said.
The UN Security Council considered two drafts extending the OPCW-UN JIM's mandate on Thursday; the documents were prepared by Russia and the United States. Neither draft was approved.
Haley told reporters before the UN Security Council's meeting that members of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations had failed to reach their Russian counterparts to discuss the resolution and that she had been unable to contact Russia's permanent representative on the phone.