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UN Security Council. Bebeto Matthews/AP  

 

Ukrainian anger when Russia becomes president of the UN Council  

 

Today, Russia takes over the presidency of the UN Security Council - despite loud protests from Ukraine, the BBC reports. This means that the council is led by a country whose president is accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. 

 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says that the Russian presidency is "the worst April Fool's joke ever". Even President Volodymyr Zelenskyi's advisor speaks out in strong terms and describes the scheme as "another rape under international law".  

 

The last time Russia held the presidency of the Security Council, in February 2022, it launched its invasion of Ukraine.  

 

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is escorted by police officers in Moscow. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP  

 

Russian InvasionGripne WSJ Reporter  

Russian journalist: The WSJ reporter knew the Kremlin had its eyes on him  

 

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich may have been in the process of reporting on the Russian paramilitary group Wagner when he was arrested in Yekaterinburg earlier this week, independent Russian journalist Dmitry Kolezev told NBC News.  

 

Kolezev states that he warned Gershkovich that Russian agents were following him, which Gershkovich was also aware of. 

 

- He said he understood it very well, and that the same thing happened when he traveled to Perm, says Kolezev, referring to one of the WSJ reporter's previous reporting trips.  

 

According to Kolezev, Gershkovich did not believe that the Russians would dare to touch him because he is an American journalist from a well-known newspaper.

 

 

Protests in support of Pavel Roman Hrytsyna / AP  

 

Russian invasionUkraine's response 

 

Orthodox leader in Kyiv is placed under house arrest by court 

 

A Ukrainian court has ordered that a leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Pavel, be placed under house arrest following accusations that he supports the Russian invasion. This is reported by AP. He himself denies the accusations. 

 

- I have never been on the side of the attackers. This is my country, he said outside the court.  

 

On Saturday, the Ukrainian security service SBU raided his residence in the Petjerska monastery in Kyiv, while about fifty of his followers demonstrated outside.