US, Britain walk out at UN on Russian wanted for war crimes
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Diplomats from the US, Britain, Albania and Malta walked out as Russian commissioner for children's rights Maria Lvova-Belova spoke.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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UNITED NATIONS – The United States, Britain, Albania and Malta walked out on Russia’s envoy for children’s rights – whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) wants to arrest on war crimes charges – as she spoke by video to United Nations Security Council members on Wednesday.
Britain and the United States blocked the informal meeting
The diplomats left the UN conference room where the discussion was being held as Russian commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova spoke.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that the US joined Britain in blocking the webcast so the commissioner did not have “an international podium to spread disinformation and to try to defend her horrible actions that are taking place in Ukraine”.
The ICC in March issued an arrest warrant
Moscow said the warrants were legally void as Russia was not a signatory to the treaty that established the ICC.
Moscow has not concealed a programme under which it has taken thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, but presents it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the war zone.
Ms Lvova-Belova said that since February 2022, some five million Ukrainians, including 700,000 children, had travelled to Russia.
Some 2,000 children were from orphanages and accompanied by custodians, she said, adding that about 1,300 of those children had since returned to Ukraine, while 400 were now in Russian orphanages and 358 were placed in Russian foster homes.
“Russia claims it is protecting these children. Instead, this is a calculated policy that seeks to erase Ukrainian identity and statehood,” British diplomat Asima Ghazi-Bouillon told the meeting, returning to the room after Ms Lvova-Belova had spoken.
During her statement, MsLvova-Belova showed video footage of Ukrainian children in Russia, then said: “I want to stress that unlike the Ukrainian side, we don’t use children for propaganda.”
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters in March that the informal meeting had been planned long before the ICC announcement and it was not intended to be a rebuttal of the charges against Mr Putin and Ms Lvova-Belova.
Diplomats have said it is rare for a UN webcast to be blocked. However, in March, China blocked the UN webcast of a US-convened informal Security Council meeting on human rights abuses in North Korea. REUTERS
