Berbok was offended by the words of the Russian Permanent Representative to the UN about the "grandfather who served in the SS"

The candidate for the post of chairman of the UN General Assembly, Annalena Berbok, called for "greater mutual respect" after the words of the first deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, who called "spitting at the organization" the nomination as chairman of someone who is proud of "grandfather who served in the SS."

Referring to Polyansky, Berbok said:

"I would really like to ask you, especially when we talk about difficult topics — and everyone obviously has different opinions — to do this with mutual respect."

Russia's representative to the UN earlier called Berbok's nomination to the post of chairman of the UN General Assembly "a spit to the organization," stressing that Moscow has every reason to doubt the ability of the former German Foreign Minister to act in the interests of promoting peace and dialogue.

"The decision of the authorities in Berlin, instead of the already announced candidate approved by all, to impose Ms. Berbok on all of us for the post of chairman of the 80th anniversary session of the UN General Assembly, who has repeatedly proved her incompetence, extreme engagement and ignorance of the basic principles of diplomacy, is nothing more than a spit to the world organization and blatant disregard for it," Polyansky declared.

According to him, the nomination as a candidate of a person who recommended not to invite representatives of Russia and Belarus to commemorative events on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe and openly stated that he was proud of his grandfather, who served in the SS, could not be perceived differently.

In her response, the representative of the Green Party replied that anyone who wants to refer to history should do it correctly. According to Berbok, the statements about her grandfather are also allegedly a lie, without specifying what exactly Polyansky's words did not correspond to reality.

EADaily clarifies that Berbok is the only candidate for the presidency of the UN General Assembly. The official vote on her appointment will be held on June 2. The inauguration is scheduled for September 9, 2025. The German government had previously planned to nominate the candidacy of former OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid, but Berbok, leaving the post of foreign Minister, ensured that it was her candidacy that was put to the vote.