At a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine scheduled by Russia, representatives of several countries left the room as the Russian Commissioner for Child Rights, wanted on an international arrest warrant, was connected via video. When Maria Lvova-Belowa appeared on screen today denouncing a “discredit campaign” against her country, representatives from the US, UK, Malta and Albania left the room.
Ukrainian authorities accuse Russia of kidnapping more than 16,000 Ukrainian children since the war broke out more than a year ago. In mid-March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lvova-Belowa for the kidnapping of the children.
Russia says it has “rescued” Ukrainian children from the fighting and is taking steps to reunite them with their families.
According to the British delegation to the UN, the meeting was not broadcast on the UN website. In a joint statement, some 50 countries, including Germany and Ukraine, as well as the US and Britain, accused Russia of “abusing its powers and privileges as a permanent member of the UN Security Council” to spread disinformation about the “widespread illegal abductions and forced resettlements have spread to thousands of Ukrainian children”.