US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during the United Nations Security Council, on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, that the actions of Russian occupiers related to the procedure of “filtering” Ukrainians violate the Fourth Geneva Convention and are considered a war crime.
Source: United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield
“A growing number of eyewitnesses and survivors of ‘filtration’ operations tell stories of threats, harassment, and incidents of torture by Russian security forces. They’ve had their biometric data captured, identification documents confiscated, and all means of communication cut off. They’ve been subject to invasive searches, and interrogation under inhumane and demeaning circumstances. It really is horrifying.”
The US Permanent Representative to the UN also reported that according to available information, the occupiers carried out “filtration” and deported from 900,000 to 1.6 million Ukrainians to Russia.
The USA believes that the occupying “power” is thus trying to prepare the annexation of the temporarily captured Ukrainian territories and hold fake referendums, in particular in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions (south of Ukraine).
“Of course, we will never recognize any efforts by Russia to change Ukraine’s borders by force. We must hold the perpetrators of these atrocities to account. We must respond as an international community — an international community that still respects the UN Charter.”
See also: 2.5 million Ukrainian people, including 38,000 children, have been deported to Russia
