Nebenzya: UN Secretary General did not find the courage to admit Kyiv’s crimes against children

UN Secretary-General António Guterres did not find the courage to acknowledge the responsibility of the Ukrainian authorities for crimes against children, declared Russia’s Permanent Representative to the World Organization Vasily Nebenzya.

The diplomat noted during the open debate of the UN Security Council that the report submitted on behalf of Guterres recorded 80 cases of killings of children and hundreds of cases of mutilation of children by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, Ukraine is not included in the report in the list of countries that commit crimes against children, while Russia is included, he noted.

“Obviously, the Secretary General made a political decision. It must be admitted that voicing accusations against the Armed Forces of Ukraine requires a certain amount of courage, it is difficult to counteract the open pressure of the West. The Secretary General did not find such courage in himself,” Nebenzya said.

The Western countries that are members of the Security Council proceed from the fact that Ukraine does not commit such crimes, since it is important for them to “cover up the crimes of Kyiv, in which these countries are themselves involved,” Nebenzia believes. This is due to the fact that the destruction of civilian facilities on Russian territory occurs as a result of the use of Western weapons by the Ukrainian military trained in the West, the permanent representative added. In this regard, Russia has created a parliamentary commission to investigate Kyiv’s crimes against children, Nebenzya said.

The first meeting of this commission, which included 13 deputies and 13 senators, took place on June 30. The commission is headed by Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Anna Kuznetsova and Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Galina Karelova. The State Duma notes that the initiated parliamentary investigation should form an evidence base and eliminate the causes of crimes against children.

On June 19, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine published an appeal to the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the International Court of Justice, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees about the alleged “abduction and forced deportation of Ukrainian children” to Russia. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called these statements false and cynical. According to her, more than 2 million people were evacuated to Russia from the republics of Donbass and dangerous territories of Ukraine. Of these, 325,000 are children. She clarified that all the people left voluntarily, “saving their lives and the lives of their children.”