UN assembly suspends Russia from top human rights body

By EDITH M. LEDERER and JENNIFER PELTZ
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly has voted to suspend Russia from the world organization’s leading human rights body. The vote was fueled by allegations that Russian soldiers in Ukraine engaged in rights violations that the United States and Ukraine have called war crimes. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the vote a historic moment. The U.S. launched the campaign to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council in the wake of videos and photos showing streets in the Ukrainian town of Bucha strewn with the bodies of civilians after Russian soldiers retreated. The deaths have sparked global revulsion and calls for tougher sanctions on Russia, which has vehemently denied its troops were responsible.