"I think his passing represents a deep loss for all of us in the United Nations, including in this Council, where his distinctive voice was ever present for the past decade, and where I think we will all miss that voice in the sessions to come," Guterres said.
The Security Council meeting started with a minute of silence to honor the memory of Churkin, and was followed by the speeches of its members who offered condolences and underlined Churkin’s outstanding diplomatic and human qualities.
Guterres noted that when he received the news about Churkin’s death while flying from Lisbon to New York, he first did not believe it.
The secretary-general said that Churkin "represent life in itself."
"The unique combination of intelligence, knowledge, firmness in expressing his own beliefs, but also remarkable sense of humor, and enormous warmth that would make us all feel a natural tendency to become friends," he added. "I do believe that Vitaly Churkin was not only an outstanding diplomat, but an extraordinary human being."
Churkin was born in Moscow on February 21, 1952. He has served as Russia's permanent envoy to the United Nations and Russian representative in the UN Security Council since April 2006. Churkin passed away in his office in New York on Monday. The diplomat would have turned 65 on Tuesday, February 21.
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