US Secretary of State Anthony BlinkenWASHINGTON, Apr 8US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the suspension of Russia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council is natural in the light of its operation in Ukraine and is a correction of a mistake. «The mistake has been corrected today,» Blinken said in a statement. «Russia has no place in an organization whose main goal is to promote respect for human rights.» On April 7, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution suspending Russia's participation in the UNHRC. The decision, taken because of Russia's actions in Ukraine, deprived the Russian Federation of the right to vote and the right to speak on the council. In response, Russia announced that it was terminating its powers in the HRC. Gennady Kuzmin, Deputy Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, said that Russia's commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights does not allow it «to remain part of the international mechanism that has become an executor of the will of this group of countries that, in order to push through their goals and obtaining the necessary votes in decision-making, they do not shy away from open blackmail of sovereign states.Vučić explained why Serbia supported the freezing of Russia's participation in the UNHRC He noted that Moscow's decision to terminate its membership in the UNHRC «is not a departure from Russia's international obligations in the human rights sphere.» According to him, the Russian Federation intends to continue to make a significant contribution to strengthening a constructive dialogue on human rights, to involving all interested parties in the process of collective development and decision-making that meets the interests of all states. Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» bloody crimes against civilians» of Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, on March 25, they completed the main tasks of the first stage — they significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
