Russia Nominates For UN Human Rights Council Election - Permanent Mission to UN

Russia put forward its candidacy for membership of the UN Human Rights Council for 2021-2023, the Russian Permanent Mission to the United Nations said on Wednesday.

"Russia will continue its effective work in the Human Rights Council to maintain equal dialogue and cooperation in the human rights sphere. For this purpose, Russia has proposed its candidacy for membership of the Human Rights Council for 2021-2023," First Secretary of the Russian Mission to the United Nations, Fedor Strzhizhovskiy, said.

On Tuesday, US Envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced that the United States is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council.

As we said we would do a year ago, if we did not see any progress, the United States is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council," Haley told reporters.

The US ambassador continued, "In doing so, I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from human rights commitments." Haley added that there is a chronic bias against Israel at the UN Human Rights Council.

The Russian Permanent Mission to the UN said in a statement that the US' attempts to accuse the UN Human Rights Council of politicization seemed "cynical."

"Apparently, the United States wanted to turn the Council into a handy tool for promoting its interests and punishing unwanted states. In this context, the US attempts to accuse almost the whole world of politicization of the Council and failure of its initiative, look cynical," the statement read.

The Russian Mission to the United Nations stressed that the Council, despite some weak points, is a key international platform for cooperation in the human rights field which works on the principles of impartiality, neutrality and cooperation.