The Russian Federation Thursday slammed the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's decision to appoint a panel of experts to advise him on Sri Lanka's alleged violations of human rights and humanitarian law during the last stages of the war against Tamil Tiger rebels without regard to the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement criticized the UN Chief for not asking the opinion of the Security Council or the General Assembly on this matter before appointing the panel.
"What also makes us cautious is the fact that this decision was taken without regard to the position of a sovereign state and a member of the UN � Sri Lanka.
Russia said that Under Secretary-General for political affairs B. Lynn Pascoe visited Sri Lanka before the UN Chief's appointment of the panel and he was aware of Sri Lanka's stand that the panel was unwarranted and unnecessary.
The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that Sri Lanka have already begun their own investigation process at national level with the appointment of the Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation with a mandate to review all aspects of the conflict.
The Russian Foreign Ministry further said the responsibility to investigate past events in Sri Lanka lies with its government and expressed hope that UN panel of experts will not take any steps to complicate the investigation being conducted by the authorities of Colombo.
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