STICKING UP FOR HIM

Russia Protests UN Condemnation of Trump

After human-rights commissioner blasted the GOP nominee.

Russia reportedly complained to the United Nations last month about criticisms of Donald Trump launched by the organization’s high commissioner for human rights. Diplomats say Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the UN, spoke with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in private about it. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the human-rights commissioner, strongly denounced Trump and European populist politicians, comparing their strategies to those employed by ISIS. “In what may be a critical election for leadership of this country later this year, we have seen a full-frontal attack—disguised as courageous taboo-busting—on some fundamental, hard-won tenets of decency and social cohesion that have come to be accepted by American society,” he said. The type of complaint Churkin made, dubbed a “demarche,” rarely focuses on a specific person, and is notable in the context of Russia’s continued praise of the GOP nominee.