UNITED NATIONS, June 23 /ITAR-TASS/. The U.N. Security Council will hold a meeting on Ukraine on Tuesday, June 24.
The Council will convene at 10:00 local time, the Russian Mission to the U.N. said. It did not specify whether it will be held behind closed doors or not.
The Council will hear U.N. Assistant Secretary-Generalfor Human Rights Ivan Simonovic’s report via conference call.
At a news conference on Friday, June 21, Churkin said the Security Council might hold a meeting on Ukraine shortly to discuss not only the report of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) but also the situation in the country in general.
Commenting on the UNHCHR report released on June 18, Churkin said it had “not a scintilla of objectivity”. “Suffice it to read page one,” he said, adding that the report “copies completely the interpretation of facts by the Ukrainian authorities”.
The report on Ukraine released by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights contains no objective assessment of criminal activities conducted by Kiev which is carrying out a punitive operation against the peaceful population and ignores the death of civilians as a result of the operation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“There is no objective assessment of the criminal activities of Kiev which is conducting a combat operation, including with the use of aviation, heavy artillery and armoured vehicles, against the peaceful population. Observers have carefully overlooked the death of civilians as a result of the punitive operation in Donbass,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
“Not a word was said to condemn the activities of the ‘National Guard’ and the Azov, Dnepr and other battalions of mercenaries which are violating the norms of international humanitarian law,” he said.
The ministry said it was angered by the hypocritical recommendations issued by the Office to Kiev to carry out the counter-terrorism operation in accordance with international standards, which can be regarded as an indulgence for further killing of the peaceful population.
It said the report could be considered as an indulgence for further escalation of the conflict in the east of Ukraine.
“Especially outrageous is the hypocritical recommendation to the Ukrainian authorities to carry out the counter-terrorism operation in accordance with international standards. Basically, this can be regarded as an indulgence for further extermination of the peaceful population,” he said.
“It’s strange to hear this from people who position themselves as human rights activists, especially in the light of the recent calls issued by the U.N. Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to stop the violence,” Lukashevich said.
He believes that the report seeks to shield the Kiev authorities and their supporters form responsibility for the death of innocent people in Odessa.
“When covering the May 2 tragedy in Odessa, the authors of the report showed a more objective approach than in the previous such document. At the same time, we have to admit that the authors still seek to shield the Kiev authorities, their supporters and law enforcement agencies which bear responsibility for the death of dozens of innocent people,” Lukashevich said.
He urged the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to exert every effort to ensure an independent and transparent investigation of the events in Ukraine.