UNITED NATIONS, May 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia is surprised at the absence of reaction from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to artillery shelling of the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk as well as to Kiev’s cutting off Crimea water supply, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Wednesday.
He said this had been brought to the attention of UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic. He said the Russian side had got a rather surprising answer that the issue was being looked into. “It can be seen from any satellite that the water does not come in,” he said, adding that the UN had once again dodged its responsibility to give unbiased assessment of events. The same way it avoided condemning the artillery shelling of Slavyansk, also referring to a need to carry out an investigation, the ambassador noted.
He also said that a closed doors meeting of the Security Council on the situation with human rights had not supported Russia’s offer to appeal to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with a request to organize an independent probe into the tragic events in Ukraine’s Odessa on May 2.
The diplomat pledged that Russia would continue working towards that, and in particular, would hold consultations with the secretary general after he returned from China.
Churkin also said that at the session, Russia had brought up the issue of detained in Ukraine journalists of Russian LiveNews television as well as freelance journalist of RT television Graham Phillips. “And once again our western colleagues kept silent,” he said, adding that even the fellow countryman of the British reporter answered nothing to his question about what he was thinking about the arrest of a British subject.
He expressed regret over “the absence of objectiveness,” pledging that Russia would continue promoting its positions at the United Nations and its Security Council.