Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev arrived on Wednesday in the United States, where he is the target of sanctions, to attend the Fourth UN summit of police chiefs of member states.
The Russian Permanent Mission to the UN announced Kolokoltsev’s arrival to participate in the UNCOPS 2024 summit on Telegram.
In Moscow, ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said on Thursday that Kolokoltsev would hold bilateral meetings, including with UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix.
The US announced sanctions against Kolokoltsev and other senior Russian officials on February 25, 2022, the day after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.
Despite the sanctions, Kolokoltsev is not included in the list of persons banned from entering the United States by the US Treasury Department.
UNCOPS 2024, which will take place from June 26 to 27, aims to “strengthen international peace, security and development for all through the convening power and facilitating role of national police and the United Nations,” according to a UN statement.
Quoted by the digital newspaper “Kyiv Independent”, Volk said this Thursday that Kolokoltsev spoke with Lacroix about the Ukrainian attack reported in early June in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, and asked for an assessment from the UN.
The Russian Defense Ministry said, citing unverified information, that Ukraine used US-supplied weapons in the attack, which reportedly left four people dead and 151 injured.
Kolokoltsev also intends to discuss with Lacroix the growth of “Russophobic sentiments” around the world, Volk said.
The Russian military offensive into Ukraine, launched on February 24, 2022, has plunged Europe into its most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Ukraine has relied on financial and military aid from Western allies, who have also imposed sanctions on key sectors of the Russian economy to try to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance the war effort.
Recent months have seen large-scale Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, while Kyiv’s forces have struck targets on Russian territory near the border and on the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014.
Already in the third year of the war, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were faced with a shortage of soldiers, weapons and ammunition, despite repeated promises of assistance from the Western allies, which had since begun to materialize.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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