An Argentine ambassador refused to speak in front of a map labelling the Falkland Islands as British, forcing officials to cover it up with a Post-it note.
Ian Sielecki, the country’s ambassador to France, refused to answer questions at the French national assembly’s foreign affairs committee in Paris on Wednesday.
He claimed he could not ‘speak freely’ in front of the map before comparing British presence on the archipelago to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
‘Thank you very much for receiving me,’ he said, before adding: ‘I have a small problem, which is in fact a major problem for my country.’
Pointing to the map behind him, he told MPs: ‘I have just noted that I am seated in front of a map that shows the Malvinas Islands as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
‘I cannot, as a representative of the Argentine state, speak freely in front of that map.’
‘Doing so would mean legitimising a situation that constitutes an attack on my country’s sovereignty, on the dignity of the Argentine nation and a flagrant violation of international law.’
Committee chair Bruno Fuchs replied ‘everyone knows this is disputed territory’, adding the map was not supposed to assign sovereignty.
An Argentine ambassador refused to speak in front of a map labelling the Falkland Islands as British, forcing officials to cover it up with a Post-it note
Ian Sielecki, the country’s ambassador to France, refused to answer questions at the French national assembly’s foreign affairs committee in Paris
But Mr Sielecki, who was educated in the UK and France, compared the dispute to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
‘It would be like asking the ambassador of Ukraine to speak in front of a map showing Luhansk or Crimea as a legitimate part of Russia,’ he said.
After a few moments of awkward silence, French officials placed a yellow Post-it note over the Falkland Islands on the map.
The Falklands, which sit 370 miles from Argentina, remain a tense subject in Argentine politics
Argentina launched an invasion of the island in 1982 prompting a 74-day war which saw 649 Argentine serviceman and 255 British soldiers die.
Argentina still continues to claim sovereignty over the islands despite a referendum in 2013 showing just 3 people were in favour of ending their status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom.
But there are fears that Argentina could use Donald Trump’s new ‘peace board’ as a vehicle to make a new claim on the Falkland Islands.
The UK is worried that Argentine president Javier Milei, a close supporter of Mr Trump, could use the US leader’s control of the body to further his country’s baseless claim to the territory.
Alarm bells are starting to ring over Trump’s plans for an organisation ostensibly set up to end the war in Gaza but which critics say is being designed to replace the United Nations.
Mr Trump intends to chair it, and has been inviting up to 60 world leaders to join him, including Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Government ministers have publicly said the UK will refuse to join if Putin is a member.
