several countries leave a UN meeting at the appearance of a Russian commissioner targeted by the International Criminal Court

They slammed the door. Representatives of several members of the Security Council walked out of a Russian-hosted meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday after the videoconference of the cRussian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s RightsMaria Lvova-Belova, targeted by an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC in March issued a historic arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children, finding they were responsible for the “war crime of illegal deportation” of Ukrainian minors. The Ukrainian authorities accuse Russia of having “kidnapped” more than 16,000 children from Ukraine since the start of the offensive a year ago. Russia claims to have “Safe” these children of combat and have put in place procedures to reunite them with their families.

As soon as Maria Lvova-Belova appeared on screen, denouncing a “smear campaign” against his country, the representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom, Malta and Albania left the room, while the representatives of the other 11 members of the Security Council remained.

Russia “abuses its privileges as a permanent member of the Security Council”

In a joint statement, about fifty countries, including France, the United States, Japan, Switzerland, Ukraine, Guatemala, accused Russia of“abusing his powers and privileges as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to spread disinformation regarding his widespread abductions and illegal forced deportations of thousands of Ukrainian children”.

“Ukrainian propaganda and Western media deliberately and thoroughly distorted the situation, saying that it was a crime to save these children under the bombardments”for his part defended Wednesday the Russian ambassador to the UN Vassili Nebenzia, who had previously assured that this meeting had been planned “long before” decision “stupid” of the ICC.