A diplomat in Russia’s mission to the UN in Geneva quit his post on Monday, expressing shame over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and describing it as a crime against both countries.

Boris Bondarev, a counsellor in the Russian mission since 2019 who described himself as a 20-year veteran of Russia’s foreign ministry, announced his resignation in an email sent to diplomats in Geneva on Monday. His resignation is the most high-profile gesture of protest so far made by a Russian diplomat over the war in Ukraine.

“For 20 years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year,” Bondarev said, referring to the date that President Vladimir V. Putin sent Russian forces into Ukraine.

“The aggressive war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine and in fact against the entire western world is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people but also, perhaps, the most serious crime against the people of Russia,” he added.

Diplomats in Geneva confirmed that they had received the email. Bondarev, reached by phone after responding to a message on his LinkedIn account, confirmed sending it to several colleagues at other missions and said he had resigned on Monday morning.

Bondarev, 41, is listed as a counsellor in the Russian mission on the website of the UN; he sent The New York Times a copy of his diplomatic passport to confirm his identity.

New York Times News Service