Russia has held the presidency of the UN Security Council for less than a week and the first scandal is already being processed. During an informal session convened by Russia on the subject of “evacuation of children from conflict zones”, delegation members from the USA, Great Britain, Albania and Malta walked out in protest.
The reason: Maria Lwowa-Belowa, the Russian commissioner for children’s rights, was connected via video for a lecture. The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant against her for war crimes in March. She is said to be responsible for the deportation of children from the occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia. Great Britain and the USA also blocked the transmission of the meeting on the Internet. Each participating delegation has the right to do so.
The informal meeting of the UN Security Council with Maria Lwova-Belova connected via video.
(Photo: Michelle Nichols/Reuters)
Moscow is now accusing Russia of what other countries are accusing them of
Lwowa-Belowa used the session to defend herself against the allegations and showed a series of videos in which alleged Ukrainian women claimed that their children were being held in foreign families in Germany, among other places. Other videos showed Lvowa-Belowa visiting children in the hospital and giving them toys.
Then, against the background of a Russian flag and an Orthodox icon of Jesus, she explained that the children had been evacuated from the war zone, including Mariupol. They would be sent back to their families in Ukraine if there was a request, Lvova-Belova claimed. There is no evidence for these claims.
Some things, such as the statement that Ukraine had no problem with the fact that children had to stay in basements for months and could not go to school, seem downright absurd in view of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Mariupol was besieged by the Russian army for months and largely destroyed. Lwowa-Belowa is said to have “adopted” a child from the port city herself.
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebensia also claimed that Ukrainian children are being separated from their families and taken to Western European countries.
The US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced the boycott of the meeting with Russia abusing the Security Council presidency to spread false information. Representatives of Great Britain at the UN wrote on Twitter: “If Maria Lwowa-Belowa wants to justify her actions, then she can do so in The Hague.”
It is a rhetorical strategy often used by Russian diplomats to simply apply allegations against Russia to other nations without providing any evidence for the allegations or simply making new claims that the other party then has to laboriously refute. Diplomatic processes are so often blocked or slowed down.
The Russian delegation apparently wants the Security Council for propaganda purposes
The brazen appearance of Lwova-Belowa – after all, a suspected war criminal – before the UN Security Council is fueling concern about the further course of April, when Russia chairs this body. It is already becoming apparent that the Russian delegation has no interest in a constructive exchange, but wants to use the Council for propaganda purposes and is trying to undermine the institution. In any case, the appearance can hardly be understood in any other way.
Ukraine had already called Russia’s assumption of the presidency a disgrace and called for reform. Russia is a permanent member of the council alongside China, France, the US and the UK, the other members rotate regularly and the presidency is assigned monthly in alphabetical order.
For the further course of April, the Russian delegation has already announced a meeting on the Middle East and the “violation of the regulations on the export of arms”, which will probably mean arms deliveries to Ukraine. At least one of the sessions is to be chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.