Russia to hold UN meeting on Ukraine kids taken to Russia

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia plans to hold an informal meeting of the U.N. Security Council in early April on what it says is “the real situation” of Ukrainian children taken to Russia. The issue has gained the spotlight following the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes related to their abduction. Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told a news conference Monday that Russia planned the council meeting long before Friday’s announcement by the ICC. He calls the issue of the children “totally overblown” and says they have been taken to Russia “simply because we wanted to spare them of the danger that military activities may bring.”