Mosca he used his rotating presidency of UN Security Council to arrange one informal meeting on Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russiadefending himself from an accusation that the International Criminal Court of Justice he contested as a war crime. Several countries including the USA, the UK and Malta walked out of the courtroom. A coalition of over 50 countries accused Moscow of disinformation during the meeting, broadcast in streaming with the intervention of Russian commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova Belova, indicted by the CPI. Diplomats from some countries left the courtroom as he spoke, claiming the children were taken for their “safety” and Moscow is coordinating with international organizations to “return them to their families”.
The 50 member countries – including Italy, other EU states, the USA and Ukraine – underlined that “there is no misinformation spread by Russia that would deny the truth of the matter or shield individuals from responsibility for these crimes.” Moscow, they added, continues to “to abuse powers and privileges as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to spread disinformation about his widespread abduction and illegal forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children”.
Il United Kingdom had asked the UN not to broadcast the meeting live on its TV network due to the presence of Lvova-Belova, recipient of a arrest warrant together with Vladimir Putin for this affair. “If you want to give an account of his actions, you can do it in The Hague,” commented the British mission. But Russia streamed it on Youtube, with simultaneous translation. Lvova-Belova argued that Moscow is ready to cooperate with the reunification of Ukrainian children with their families. “We have no doubts that this is a campaign to discredit our country,” she said, reiterating that Russia it did not recognize the jurisdiction of the international court.