Russia looking to regain Human Rights Council seat – DW – 10/10/2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he had arrived in Bucharest for talks with Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis.

“We will discuss further security cooperation, developing aviation and other coalitions, strengthening Ukraine’s air defense, the Black Sea security architecture, and our relations with partners,” Zelenskyy wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Romania has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine and has allowed cargo ships from the Odesa region to sail through Romanian Black Sea territorial waters onwards to the Bosphorus Strait.

Romania has allowed this despite Russia’s warning that it considers any ships leaving Ukrainian ports “legitimate targets.”

Ukraine’s military said it had destroyed 27 out of 36 Russian attack drones in an overnight wave of attacks, in the south of the country.

The Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram that 27 “Shahed-136/131” drones were downed in southern Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa. The post did not say which targets the other nine drones may have hit.

Reports of Russian attacks have increased since Moscow exited the Black Sea grain initiative, which allowed safe passage of grain from Ukrainian ports.

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday will elect 15 members to the Human Rights Council.

Russia is looking to regain its seat which was suspended last year, following the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia will be up against Albania and Bulgaria for the two available seats allocated to the East Europe region.

Moscow’s UN representative, Vassily Nebenzia, has accused Washington of fronting a campaign to prevent a return to the international human rights body.

“The main phobia of our American colleagues today is electing Russia to the Human Rights Council,” Nebenzia told a Security Council meeting.

The US and other nations have sent letters to members of the General Assembly urging them to reject Russia’s reelection.

US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council that Russia’s reelection, “while it openly continues to commit war crimes and other atrocities would be an ugly stain that would undermine the credibility of the institution and the United Nations.”

kb/sms (AP, Reuters, AFP)