The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, met with a UN special representative to discuss the situation of Ukrainian children deported by Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry (MAE) said on Friday.
The meeting between Lavrov and the special representative of the UN Secretary General on children in armed conflict, Virginia Gamba, took place on Thursday, but it was only announced this Friday by Russian diplomacy.
According to the Russian ministry, Lavrov and Virginia Gamba presented their respective views on issues such as cooperation in preventing serious violations of children’s human rights in armed conflicts “in various regions of the world, including Ukraine.”
The meeting also reaffirmed “the importance of adoption by all parties involved of practical measures for the effective protection of minors in critical areas and compliance with universal norms of international humanitarian law,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
This meeting between Lavrov and the Argentine representative of António Guterres comes two months after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, “allegedly responsible” for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian minors to Russia. and of their transportation from the occupied areas of Ukraine to Russian territory, amounting to a war crime.
The Hague-based UN court also issued another arrest warrant for Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, who adopted a Ukrainian child.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, more than 19,400 cases of minors transported to areas under Russian control have been documented, but they assure that the number could be much higher.
The military offensive launched on February 24, 2022 by Russia in Ukraine has so far caused the flight of more than 14.7 million people -6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.2 million to European countries-, according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
At least 18 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the wider international community, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia in political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war, which today entered its day 450, 8,836 dead civilians and 14,985 wounded, stressing that these figures are far below the real ones.
Source: TSF
