UN to vote on suspending Russia from Human Rights Council on Thursday

UNITED NATIONS: The 193-member UN General Assembly will vote on Thursday on a U.S. push to suspend Russia from the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, diplomats said.

A two-thirds majority of voting General Assembly members in New York can suspend a country for committing gross and systematic violations of human rights. Russia is in the second year of a three-year term on the 47-member Human Rights Council.

As per reports, the vote is "confirmed for 10:00 am," Paulina Kubiak, a spokeswoman for the presidency said Wednesday.

The United Nations General Assembly on demand from the US and the UK, announced Wednesday that the committee on Thursday, 7 April, will vote to decide whether Russia will stay in the Human Rights Council, AFP reported.

As per reports, the vote is "confirmed for 10:00 am," Paulina Kubiak, a spokeswoman for the presidency said Wednesday. "We cannot let a member state that is subverting every principle we hold dear to continue to participate in the council," US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a tweet.

The EU is proposing further sanctions against Russia after allegations of war crimes in Ukraine following the Bucha massacre, with EU ambassadors to decide what steps to take.

On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the package, which will be discussed and given the final approval by EU ambassadors on Wednesday, includes bans on coal imports worth 4 billion euros a year and on four Russian banks.

European Commission is also pushing for bans on Russian ships entering EU ports, on Russian and Belarusian road transport operators, and on imports of oil, wood and cement, seafood and alcohol from Russia, she said.

Reportedly, Western sanctions imposed on Russia could wipe out 15 years of economic growth in the country leading to skyrocketing inflation.

Meanwhile, several EU member states, including Sweden, Italy, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Denmark and France announced their decision to expel Russian diplomats on the charges of espionage.