UN, June 20. /TASS/. The United States would like to turn the UN Human Rights Council into an instrument to promote its interests and punish those out of favor, Russia’s permanent mission to the UN said, commenting on the US withdrawal from the council on Tuesday.

The Russian diplomatic mission reiterated that the UN Human Rights Council, just like the entire UN framework, was established "to serve all member states, not one nation or a group of nations."

"Regretfully, our colleagues from Washington fail to understand or admit this. Nevertheless, the entire international community’s response to their ideas of reforming the Council clearly demonstrates that they stand alone on this issue," the mission said in a statement.

"Apparently, the United States would like to turn the Council into an obedient instrument to promote their interests and to punish nations that are out of favor [with Washington]," the statement reads.

Russia admits certain drawbacks in the council’s work, but "the Council managed to prove its feasibility," the Russian mission said. "To that end, Russia has put forward its candidacy for the vote on the HRC membership in 2021-2023," it said.

The United States ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, announced on Tuesday that her country was officially quitting the UN Human Rights Council. "Should it become reformed, we would be happy to rejoin it," the US diplomat added.