New York City (UN) - The Russian Mission to the United Nations has refused to partake in an informal meeting of the UN Security Council on human rights and press freedom in Crimea, the UN press service said.
The Russian delegation said “it categorically refuses to associate the propaganda show the Lithuanian delegation is arranging today along with the attendance of odious personalities with the Security Council” and will ignore the meeting.
The letter of the Russian Mission said that the issue of human rights and press freedom in constituent territories of the Russian Federation, among them Crimea, “went beyond the responsibilities of the Security Council and there were no grounds for such debates.”
In the opinion of Russia, “this gathering cannot possibly yield any objective information about the situation in Crimea, a constituent territory of the Russian Federation.”
It was an “Arria Formula” meeting, an informal frank exchange of opinions with the participation of individuals to whom a member and several members of the UN Security Council that initiate the meeting deem useful to listen.
The Russian Mission to the UN pointed to “abuse in the application of the Arria Formula.” It said that the formula was designed for “confidential discussion of complex political issues but it was sometimes used as an instrument of advertisement in relations with the media and non-governmental organizations.”
“This undermines the prestige of the UN Security Council,” the Mission underscored.
