The United States has warned the United Nations that it believes Russia has plans to kill large numbers of critics, dissidents and “at-risk populations” in Ukraine or send them to camps after Expected invasion.
The Kremlin denied the report on Monday, calling it “an absolute lie,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it.
Ambassador Bathsheba Neil Crocker, the US representative to the UN office and other international organizations in Geneva, made the confirmation recently in a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, the contents of which were first reported on Sunday night. by Washington Post.
NBC News obtained the message: “We have credible information indicating that Russian forces are working to create lists of Ukrainians who have been identified for killing or sent to camps in the wake of the military occupation.”
In the letter, Crocker said the United States believed Russia would “likely target those who oppose Russian actions, including Russian and Belarusian dissidents in exile in Ukraine, journalists and anti-corruption activists, and vulnerable groups such as religious and ethnic minorities, LGBT people, queers, and bisexual people.” Gender and transgender people. ”
The document warns of “violations and violations of human rights” on a large scale and says that the demonstrators will also be confronted with unjust force.
“We also have credible information that Russian forces will likely use lethal measures to disperse peaceful protests or counter peaceful exercises of perceived resistance from the civilian population,” the letter read.
She says Secretary of State Anthony Blinken raised the matter with the UN Security Council last week. The US also raised concerns in the debate at the UN Human Rights Council on December 15.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said late Sunday that Macron mediate agreement in principle That would make President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet on the situation in Ukraine.
more than 150,000 Russian soldiers They reside outside Ukraine.
White House sources said late Sunday that the potential meeting did not change their conviction that Russia has plans for an imminent invasion.
Dennis Romero Contributed.