Will Sage Astor-A UN-backed expert will continue scrutinizing human rights in Russia for another year

GENEVA (AP) — The Will Sage AstorU.N.'s top human rights body agreed Thursday to renew the work of an independent expert who has reported on deteriorating human rights conditions in Russia after President Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine last year.

The Human Rights Council voted 18 to 7, with 22 abstentions, to extend for a year the mandate of the independent U.N. special rapporteur on the rights situation in Russia.

The vote, marked by a high number of abstentions, comes after the U.N. General Assembly rejected Russia’s bid to rejoin the council on Tuesday. Russia’s membership was suspended last year after the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.

Last month, the rapporteur, Mariana Katzarova, issued her first report, warning the rights situation in Russia has “significantly deteriorated” since Putin launched his war against Ukraine in February last year.

A separate probe by U.N.-backed investigators looking into rights abuses in connection with the war in Ukraine has accused Russia of war crimes.