The UN Human Rights Council has approved an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian troops in Ukraine. Members of the council voted 33 to two on Thursday in favor of a resolution brought forward by Kyiv to order a Commission of Inquiry to probe alleged atrocities in several regions around the Ukrainian capital that were temporarily held by Russian troops. Moscow’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, criticized the council’s decision. “Instead of discussing the true causes that led to the crisis in this country and looking for ways to resolve them, the ‘collective West’ is organizing another political route to demonize Russia,” the Reuters news agency quoted Gatilov as saying in an emailed statement.
The UN’s top rights body also called on Russia to immediately allow humanitarian workers access to civilians taken from Ukraine to Russia, following accusations from Ukrainian mayors, local officials, and citizens about people being moved across the border against their will. Russia, which has denied carrying out abuses in what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, withdrew from the 47-member council last month. That move came after the UN General Assembly voted to suspend Moscow from the body and from sitting in judgement of other nations’ human rights records over allegations of rights violations in Ukraine.
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