Russia’s Sergei Lavrov will CHAIR UN Security Council meeting in New York in April

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will chair the UN Security Council meeting in New York in April, despite Moscow being at war with Ukraine.

Moscow said Lavrov will chair the meeting next month, when Russia will hold the rotating presidency of the international body.

Ukraine has called for Russia’s removal from the Security Council over the military operation launched in February last year and condemned his presidency next month as a “bad joke.”

“Another important event of the Russian Presidency (of the Security Council) will be a high-level open debate on ‘effective multilateralism by defending the principles of the UN Charter,'” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a news conference. “This meeting will be chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.”

Last month, Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow planned to hold a UN Security Council meeting on what he said is the “real situation” of Ukrainian children deported to Russia.

This is an issue that arose following the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin for war crimes related to their kidnapping.

The ICC called for Putin’s arrest as the court accused the despot of unlawfully kidnapping Ukrainian children from their homes and deporting them to Russia to give them to Russian families. Pictured: Ukrainian children board a train from the Donbas region of Ukraine to Russia on February 22, 2022

The court said it sought Putin’s arrest because he is “allegedly responsible for the war crime of the unlawful deportation of (children) and that of the unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

Since Putin launched the invasion more than a year ago, Russians have been accused of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-occupied territories to raise them as their own.

At least 1,000 children from schools and orphanages have been seized during Russia’s eight-month occupation of the area, local authorities say. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

Nebenzia called the issue of the children “totally exaggerated” and said Moscow wants to explain to the Security Council meeting around April 6 that they were brought to Russia “simply because we wanted to protect them from the danger posed by military activities.” can bring. ‘

Nebenzia was asked if Russia intended to return the children. If the conditions are safe, of course. Why not?’ replied the Russian envoy.

Ukraine previously criticized the upcoming presidential change in the UN Security Council.

“Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council on April 1 is a bad joke,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

“Russia has usurped its seat; it is waging a colonial war; its leader is a war criminal wanted by the ICC for kidnapping children,” Kuleba said.

The presidency rotates between the 15 member states every month. Russia last chaired the council in February 2022.

Russia would have little influence on the decisions, but would set the agenda of the international body.

Russia claims that the Ukrainian children have no parents or guardians to take care of them, or that they cannot be reached.

But it has emerged that officials deported Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-occupied territories without permission, lied to them that their parents did not want them, used them for propaganda, and gave them Russian families and citizenship.

Whether they have parents or not, raising war children in another country or culture can be a hallmark of genocide, an attempt to erase the identity of a hostile nation. Prosecutors say it could also be directly linked to Putin, who explicitly supported the adoptions.

Ukrainian soldiers of the 28th Brigade walk together at their position on the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, March 27, 2023

Ukrainian soldiers of the 28th Brigade fire a mortar at Russian positions on the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, March 27, 2023

In the meantime, Russian troops are “hammered” in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in fighting described by senior US officials as a “slaughter fest.”

The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, told lawmakers late last night: “The Russians have not made any progress in and around Bakhmut.

“It’s a slaughter fest for the Russians. They are hammered near Bakhmut and the Ukrainians fought very well.’

But Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have admitted in recent days that Russian forces managed to gain ground, despite terrible losses.

“Enemy forces had some success in their actions to storm the city of Bakhmut,” the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a regular report late Wednesday.

“Our defenders hold the city and repel numerous enemy attacks.”

The mining town of Bakhmut and surrounding towns in the eastern industrial region of Donetsk were the focus of attack during much of Ukraine’s 13-month invasion of Russia.