A senior Biden administration official told reporters today that the U.S. is reviewing Russia’s participation at the U.N., after a bipartisan group of lawmakers called on Washington’s envoy to the body to introduce a U.N. resolution expelling Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council.
“We’re working with allies and partners around the world and using every tool in our toolbox to continue to hold Russia accountable, including reviewing Russia’s participation in U.N. and other international bodies,” the senior administration official said during a call with reporters, in response to a question from the New York Sun.
Earlier this week, a bipartisan group of senators urged U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield to introduce a U.N. resolution expelling Russia from the Human Rights Council over its atrocities in Ukraine.
Over a month into the Russian invasion, the U.S. still has not done so, though it did support a Human Rights Council measure to create a special commission investigating Russian human-rights abuses during the invasion.
“That Commission’s work will serve as an important evidence base for any future prosecutions and efforts to hold Russia accountable for the acts that it’s committing in Ukraine,” the senior administration official added, also citing the State Department’s determination that Russia has carried out war crimes in Ukraine.
Just as Washington has moved slowly to take a maximalist stance on the transfer of offensive-weapons systems to Ukraine, it has failed to decisively isolate Russia at the U.N. and other key venues, despite Biden administration pledges to turn the country into a “pariah.”