The members of the Georgian delegation did not take part in the vote for the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in which signs of genocide are noted in the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, because their official visit was over. This was reported by Formula News on April 28.
The ruling party "Georgian Dream" claims that the official visit of its members ended the day before and they had already bought tickets, so they could not attend the vote.
"We went, but the fact that we do not join something is speculation," said deputy Givi Mikanadze.
Another MP from the party, Beka Davituliani, said he did not know why his fellow party members did not participate in the vote, although he did not rule out that the resolution "was written differently" - something the party would not have supported.
He noted that in previous resolutions there was, in particular, a demand to release ex-president of Georgia Mykhailo Saakashvili and the delegation demanded to remove this point.
The resolution was adopted on April 27 at the PACE session and was supported by 87 votes, one delegate was against, and one abstained.
According to the "Children of War" state portal, as of April 27, 19,393 children were deported from Ukraine.
The children's ombudsman of Ukraine, Darya Gerasimchuk, stated that since part of the territory of Ukraine is under occupation and the authorities do not have access there, it may be several hundred thousand kidnapped children.
On March 17, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the president of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and Maria Lvova-Belova, the representative of the Russian president for children's rights. They are suspected of illegally deporting children from the occupied regions of Ukraine to Russia.