Wanted on war crimes charges, Russian official appears before U.N.

Despite having an international warrant issued for her arrest on war crimes charges, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, was a guest speaker before the Russian-led U.N. Security Council at a meeting denounced by other nations as an exercise in propoganda.

Lvova-Belova, who along with Russia's President Vladimir Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges tied to the war in Ukraine, spoke to the council by video link on Wednesday about "evacuating children" from a conflict zone allegedly for their own safety.

She said Moscow wants to return them to their families. "We're talking about guardianship and custodianship," Lvova-Belova told the council while playing a video that promoted the idea the children are happy, well-adjusted and under good care. "We're ready to examine each specific case."

There was no mention of Russia's expanded war in Ukraine. "Unlike the Ukrainian side, we don't use children for propaganda," she added.

Daria Morozova, an ombudsman for human rights in the Russian-controlled eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, said by video link many children were evacuated due to health risks from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"What we're doing is we're trying to save our children," she said, describing the ICC's arrest warrants as a move that discredited it as an institution.

Abuse of power

Western ambassadors boycotted the informal council meeting and sent junior diplomats from their missions to represent them. Many demanded the immediate withdrawal of Russia from Ukraine. Diplomats from Albania, Malta, the U.K. and the United States walked out when Lvova-Belova began speaking.

Most of the diplomats said partisans such as Lvova-Belova and Morozova should not have been allowed to participate and called the U.N. meeting an outrageous exercise in disinformation and a cynical misuse of the 15-nation council, which is supposed to be in charge of maintaining international peace and security.

In a joint letter, 49 nations plus the European Union condemned Russia for stooping to "abuse the powers and privileges" it has on the council by using it "to spread disinformation about its widespread abduction and unlawful forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children."

"No matter of disinformation spread by the Russian Federation can deny the truth of the matter," they wrote, "nor shield individuals from accountability for these crimes."

After most of the speakers, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, who presided over the session, sought to rebut and deflate their comments. Unlike many other U.N. meetings, the informal council session was not broadcast on U.N. Web TV. Instead, Russia's U.N. mission posted a livestream on YouTube.

"Maria Lvova-Belova is allegedly responsible for the war crimes of unlawful deportation and unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children," the U.K. Mission to the U.N. in New York said. "We blocked the meeting from being broadcast on U.N. TV. She should not be afforded a U.N. platform to spread disinformation."

Russia tries to dispel 'misgivings and propaganda'

The Hague-based ICC charged Putin and Lvova-Belova with war crimes for unlawfully deporting thousands of children to Russia from occupied areas of Ukraine. Russia has made no secret of its efforts to "adopt" Ukrainian children that supposedly lack parents or guardians and raise them as Russian.

There's little chance either of them will appear before the court since Russia does not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction. Although Lvova-Belova made a virtual appearance, the United States, which hosts the U.N.'s global headquarters in New York that includes the Security Council Chamber, also is not a party to the ICC.

Russia and, by extension, Putin, took charge of the council for the entire month of April. The council's presidency rotates monthly among its 15 member nations, among which five – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – get to steer the council the most due to their permanent, veto-wielding seats.

An Associated Press report detailing how Ukrainian orphans wind up in Russia found officials had deported the children to Russia or Russian-held territories "without consent, lied to them that they weren’t wanted by their parents, used them for propaganda, and given them Russian families and citizenship."

When the story first ran last October, Ukrainian officials said nearly 8,000 children had been deported to Russia. As of mid-March, Ukraine's government said more than 16,000 children were forcibly taken to Russia.

Russia's previous stint as council chair came in Feb. 2022, the same month it launched an unwarranted war against Ukraine. Nebenzia said ahead of the briefing that it was meant to present Russia's views.

"You know that this issue is being discussed in many fora including at the U.N. and we want to dispel some misgivings and propaganda over that issue that has been waged by certain countries," Nebenzia told a regular press briefing at the U.N.'s headquarters on Monday.

"Among the disinformation that the Western media and Western official are spreading is the situation of Ukrainian children who were allegedly kidnapped from Ukraine and brought to Russia against their will," he said. "And this is just one aspect, but the [informal Security Council meeting] ... is intended to dispel this narrative and the so-called Russian disinformation of the issue."

This story has been updated with additional details.