2.5 million people were forcibly deported to Russia, says Ukraine

Ukraine told a United Nations Security Council meeting on Wednesday that 2.5 million people had been forcibly deported from the country as part of a Russian “filtering” scheme in which many are being tortured and killed.

Ukrainian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Khrystyna Hayovyshyn told the Security Council that thousands of Ukrainian citizens are being forcibly deported to “isolated and depressed regions of Siberia and the Far East”.

Among the 2.5 million people deported so far, the ambassador said, were 38,000 children – many of whom were ripped from their parents’ arms.

Russian authorities are terrorizing those they deport under the guise of looking for “dangerous” people, the ambassador said, disappearing people affiliated with the Ukrainian government or media and those with political views deemed objectionable.

The comments came as US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield described Russian “filtering operations” as “horrible”.

“A growing number of eyewitnesses and survivors of ‘filtering’ operations tell stories of threats, harassment and incidents of torture by Russian security forces. They had their biometrics captured, identification documents confiscated and all means of communication cut off. They were subjected to invasive searches, interrogations in inhumane and humiliating circumstances. It’s really horrible,” Thomas-Greenfield told reporters outside the UN Security Council chamber.

But Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council that newcomers go through “registration” procedures, not filtering.

Nebenzia said it was regrettable that human rights groups were making what he described as baseless allegations against Russia.

“We wasted time” discussing this issue, he said.

“People are fleeing Ukraine, mostly out of fear of Ukraine,” added Nebenzia.