She is wanted by the Criminal Court on an arrest warrant: Russia's Children's Commissioner Lvova-Belova.
Nevertheless, she appeared unashamedly in the UN Security Council.
New York – Great outcry in the UN Security Council: The US, Great Britain, Albania and Malta left the UN conference room on Wednesday as Russia's commissioner for children's rights Maria Lvova-Belova spoke via video transmission.
Lvova-Belova, who the International Criminal Court wants to arrest for war crimes, told the informal meeting of 1,300 children who had returned to Ukraine.
Russia had convened the informal meeting with members of the UN Security Council to discuss the "evacuation of children from conflict zones".
On Tuesday it was announced that Maria Lvova-Belova would be performing virtually.
Scandal in the UN Security Council: Members strike at the webcast of the Russian Commissioner for the Rights of the Child
According to a report by the English news agency
Reuters
, Great Britain and the USA then boycotted the virtual meeting.
The diplomats left the room as Lvova-Belova spoke.
They wanted to deny her the platform.
Last month, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Lvova-Belova and President Vladimir Putin.
They are accused of illegally deporting children from Ukraine and illegally transferring people from Ukraine to Russia since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
According to
Reuters,
the informal meeting was planned before the International Criminal Court's announcement and was not intended to rebut the charges against Putin.
That's what Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the press last month.
Despite arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court: Lvova-Belova talks about "rescued" Ukrainian children
Ukraine accuses Russia of "stealing" more than 16,000 children since the start of its offensive.
Russia claims that it is "rescuing" children from combat zones and that there is a process for reuniting them with their families.
In Wednesday's video broadcast, Lvova-Belova reported that about 700,000 children had traveled to Russia since February 2022.
2,000 of these came from orphanages and were accompanied by guardians, she added.
She also said that around 1,300 of these children have since returned to Ukraine.
400 are now in Russian orphanages and 358 in Russian nursing homes.
The Russian Children's Rights Commissioner showed a video of Ukrainian children in Russia during her statement.
"I would like to emphasize that, unlike the Ukrainian side, we do not use children for propaganda," she said.
Diplomats protest: UN should not be a platform for Russia's disinformation
British diplomat Asima Ghazi-Bouillon returned to the room after Lvova-Belova spoke.
She said: “Russia claims it is protecting these children.
Instead, this is a calculated policy aimed at erasing Ukrainian identity and statehood.”
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
"She should not be given a UN platform to spread disinformation," a spokesman for Britain's UN mission in New York said in a statement.
"If she wants to give an account of her actions, she can do so in The Hague."
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the United Nations, told the press that the United States joined with Britain in blocking the webcast so that Lvova-Belova would not have an "international podium to spread disinformation and attempt to replicate their horrific actions." to defend what's happening there in Ukraine."
Russia's Child Protection Commissioner: Offered to send children back in press conference
Lvova-Belova said at a press conference on Tuesday that she was ready to send children back to Ukraine if families so requested,
British daily
The Guardian reported.
She also said she had not been contacted by “any representatives of the Ukrainian authorities” about the deported children since the beginning of the conflict.
Addressing parents, she said they could email her to look for the children.
