U.S. Mission to International
Organizations in Geneva

U.S. Statement at the Universal Periodic Review of the Russian Federation

UPR 44^th Session

As Delivered by Ambassador Michèle Taylor

Thank you, Madam Vice President.

We condemn the Russian government’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine and its almost complete domestic crackdown on dissent. Impunity for the Kremlin’s human rights violations and abuses at home has directly enabled its aggression and atrocities abroad.

We recommend that Russia:

1. Release all political prisoners, including those held for anti-war expression.
2. Release all Ukrainian civilians whom Russia cruelly and unjustly holds as a means of furthering its war of aggression.
3. Return all Ukrainian children forcibly deported or transferred to Russia or Russia-occupied territories to their homes and families in Ukraine.
4. End the practices of torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and other human rights violations and abuses in Chechnya and bring those responsible to justice.
5. Repeal repressive legislation that severely undermines human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the laws on “foreign agents,” “extremism,” “undesirable” organizations, so-called “LGBT propaganda,” bans on gender-affirming care, and “discrediting” or sharing “false” information about the Russian military.

I thank you.

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