The Russian Federation, now in its one-month term as president of the United Nations Security Council, convened a conference of ambassadors from all member states to discuss the spread of “disinformation” regarding the purported kidnapping of Ukrainian children.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters before the meeting that the United States and the United Kingdom had successfully pushed to prevent the session from being broadcast publicly, arguing that the Russian commissioner should not be able to use its position to spread misinformation and propaganda.
Russian authorities audaciously claim they took the children from Ukraine for their own protection after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March. Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights told a United Nations gathering on Wednesday that the country is already working with foreign organizations to reunite children with their families.
19FortyFive reports that ambassadors from the West did not attend the conference, instead sending lower-ranking diplomats. Some diplomats, including those from the United States and the United Kingdom, left the meeting after it was addressed by video connection.
Before the summit, 49 states issued statements condemning Russia’s attempts to portray its conduct as anything other than unlawful. Russian authorities were accused of abusing their privileges and power of being a Permanent Member of the U.N. Security Council to lie about its abductions and criminal deportations of Ukrainian children in a statement issued on behalf of the nations, which included the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Switzerland, and other world powers.
Using information from the Ukrainian government, the statement accused the Russian Federation of questioning, detaining, and forcefully deporting more than 19,500 Ukrainian children. The report also acknowledged the Independent International Commission’s finding that Russia’s placing Ukrainian children in holding facilities and deporting them to Russia breached international humanitarian law.
