“At no time did I speak with Tsar Putin’s puppet”, Borys Tarasyuk, Ukraine’s permanent representative to the Council of Europe, said at lunchtime on Tuesday, referring to his Russian counterpart, Ivan Soltanovsky.
“I had no reason to address a liar”, he added, referring to the two days of negotiations that led to the Committee of Ministers announcing the immediate suspension of Russia’s representations to the Council of Europe.
“The situation in Ukraine is horrible”, the diplomat confirmed, before recalling, in order of priority, his country’s requests: arms, financial assistance and humanitarian assistance. Then - very quickly - the question of the reception of refugees will come up.
Mr Tarasyuk also said that on Monday 28 February his government had asked the European Court of Human Rights to indicate to Russia “urgent interim measures” related to “massive human rights violations being committed by the Russian troops in the course of the military aggression against the sovereign territory of Ukraine”.
The Court responded late on Tuesday by calling on the Russian government “to refrain from military attacks against civilians and civilian objects, including residential premises, emergency vehicles and other specially protected civilian objects such as schools and hospitals, and to ensure immediately the safety of the medical establishments, personnel and emergency vehicles within the territory under attack or siege by Russian troops”.
Provided for in Article 39 of the Human Rights Convention, such intervention by the Court applies “only where there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)