Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko commented on the intentions of the Russian Federation to return to the UN Human Rights Council, from where it kicked out in April 2022 after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“The Russian Federation is promoting its candidacy to the UN Human Rights Council. Let me remind you that in the past it was deprived of its membership rights in response to a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. With this step, Russia is trying to prove that it can continue to grossly violate human rights with impunity, commit war crimes and crimes against humanity," Nikolenko wrote on Facebook on Wednesday evening.

The Foreign Ministry stressed that Ukraine's position is clear: Russia should not get the right to return to one of the key UN bodies until it bears responsibility for all crimes.

“The place of Russian war criminals is on the benches of the tribunal, and not in the UN Human Rights Council,” the ministry said.

Earlier, the BBC reported that Russia is distributing a position paper among UN member states calling for support for its election to the Human Rights Council, from where it was kicked out because of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.