INTERNATIONAL: The UN General Assembly on Thursday 7th April suspended Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council over reports of "gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" by invading Russian troops in Ukraine. The U.S.-led push garnered 93 votes in favor, while 24 countries voted no and 58 countries abstained.

A two-thirds majority of voting members in the 193-member General Assembly in New York - abstentions do not count - was needed to suspend Russia from the 47-member Geneva-based Human Rights Council.

"The rare decision this assembly has taken today sends a strong signal of accountability and hopefully will help preventing and discouraging more violations of human rights," said the European Union's U.N. Ambassador Olof Skoog.

Speaking after the vote, Russia's deputy U.N. Ambassador Gennady Kuzmin described the move as an "illegitimate and politically motivated step" and then announced that Russia had decided to quit the Human Rights Council altogether.

"The Russian Federation made a decision about, um, about ending or suspending its right, its membership in the Human Rights Council before the end of its term on the 7th of April of this year," Kuzmin said. "In today's conditions, the council is in fact monopolized by one group of states who use it for their short term aims.”

"We reject the untruthful allegations against us based on staged events and widely circulated fakes. Mr. President, based on everything I've said, we would like to put this draft resolution to a vote and call on all those present here to really consider your decision and to vote against the attempt by Western countries and their allies to destroy the existing human rights architecture."

"In a couple of minutes, you will have a chance to prove that you are not an indifferent bystander. All you need to do is to press the 'yes' button and to save the Human Rights Council and many lives around the world and in Ukraine. On the other hand, pressing 'no' means pulling a trigger and means a red dot on the screen. Red as the blood of the innocent lives lost. And this image of the red bloody dots on these screens will stay with you and all of us as long as memory does not fail us. Think about it. Thank you."

"You do not submit your resignation after you are fired," Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said.

"Under these circumstances, such a hasty move at the General Assembly, which forces countries to choose sides, will aggravate the division among member states, intensify the confrontation between the parties concerned - it is like adding fuel to the fire, which is not conducive to the de-escalation of conflicts and even less so to advance in the peace talks." China's U.N. Ambassador, Zhang Jun

Russia was in its second year of a three-year term. Under Thursday's resolution, the General Assembly could have later agreed to end the suspension. But that cannot happen now Russia has quit the council, just as the United States did in 2018 over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform.

EUROPEAN UNION’S AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N., OLOF SKOOG, SAYING:

“The decision to suspend the Russian Federation, which the EU and its member states supported today, implements the 2006 General Assembly resolution establishing the Human Rights Council, which foresees suspensions of members that commit gross and systematic violations of human rights. Suspension is necessary to uphold the integrity of the Human Rights Council, the authority of the General Assembly, and the credibility of the UN human rights system. The rare decision this assembly has taken today sends a strong signal of accountability and hopefully will help preventing and discouraging more violations of human rights.”

UNITED KINGDOM’S U.N. AMBASSADOR JAMES ROSCOE SAYING:

“Many thanks, Mr. President. We’ve very sorry to take the floor and interrupt the flow of statements. But we would like to see urgent clarification from the Russian delegation as to what precisely they just said in their statement. This General Assembly voted just a few moments ago to suspend them from the Human Rights Council and that is now done. But it seemed to us they were suggesting they were also withdrawing from the Human Rights Council, which has a different effect.”

^{PHOTO: UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY REPRESENTATIVES REACTING TO VOTE TO SUSPEND RUSSIA FROM THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL}