U.S. balks as Russian official under international arrest warrant claims Ukrainian kids kidnapped for their safety
United Nations – At an informal meeting boycotted by the U.S. and Britain's ambassadors and labelled an abuse of Russia's power as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council by over four dozen countries, Moscow's Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights asserted Wednesday that Russia's only motivation in removing children from Ukraine was to evacuate them from a dangerous war zone.
Maria Lvova-Belova, who gave the briefing remotely, is among the Russian officials, along with President Vladimir Putin, for whom an international court issued arrest warrants last month over the alleged forced deportation of Ukrainian children.
She told the Security Council members who did attend the meeting that there had been an "emergency character" to Russia's actions, claiming it was necessary to "move these children from under shelling and move them to safe areas."
Her claims contrasted starkly with evidence the International Criminal Court has received about the forced removal of children and infants from Ukraine. CBS News correspondent Chris Livesay spoke with Ukrainian children last year who were among the thousands allegedly taken from their country into Russia or Russian-occupied territory.
The boys CBS News met were rescued and had made their way back to Ukraine, but many others remain separated from their families. Livesay presented his report to the U.N. as it heard evidence.
"If she wants to give an account of her actions, she can do so in the Hague," the U.K. Mission to the U.N. said in a statement, adding that "their briefer, Maria Lvova-Belova, is subject to an international arrest warrant from the ICC for her alleged responsibility in the war crimes of unlawful deportation and unlawful transfer of these children."
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters before the meeting that Washington was firmly opposed to "a woman who has been charged with war crimes, who has been involved in deporting and removal of children from their homes to Russia," being given any platform to defend the actions.
Russia convened the meeting just days after it took over the rotating monthly presidency of the Security Council.
Ukraine and the U.S. had warned that handing Russia the gavel to chair the council, the U.N.'s most powerful body, would provide President Vladimir Putin's regime a greater platform to spread disinformation at a pivotal moment in his war against civilians in Ukraine.
"We strongly are opposed to that," said Thomas-Greenfield. "And that's why we've joined the U.K. in blocking UN WebTV from being used to allow her to have an international podium to spread disinformation and to try to defend her horrible actions that are taking place in Ukraine."
Thomas-Greenfield, who did not attend the meeting, said, "We will have an expert sitting in the chair who has been instructed to walk out when the briefer that we've objected to is speaking."
The ICC has received evidence that at least 6,000 Ukrainian children have been taken to camps and other facilities in Russia and Russian-occupied territory and subjected to pro-Russian re-education. They have in many cases been denied any contact with their families, according to a report from the Conflict Observatory, a research group that monitors alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
Ukraine's government puts the figure much higher, claiming to have documented 14,700 cases of children being deported, among some 100,000 who have been moved into Russia or Russian-occupied territory.
The ICC said in a statement in March, when it announced an international arrest warrant for Putin, that the Russian leader was "allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of (children) and that of unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation."
Russia's U.N Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia complained about the U.S. and other nations boycotting the meeting on Wednesday, saying: "You know you're not interested. Of course, it's not very pleasant for you to hear this and compromise your narrative. You don't need the truth."
Britain's ambassador James Kariuki said the fact that Russia had invited someone to address the council who had been indicted by the ICC, "speaks for itself."