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A desperate Vladimir Putin, increasingly isolated on the world stage, is eyeing a return to the UN Human Rights Council – and he has launched a shameless charm offensive to get him there. Armed with stolen Ukrainian grain, the Russian president is on a mission to curry favour with potential backers ahead of a vote for council membership next month, although his efforts are likely to fall short. Two years after being kicked off the panel for invading its neighbour, Putin has ordered his diplomats to try and secure the backing of enough countries for Moscow to beat two other eastern European nations on 10 October. A Russian position paper circulated to dozens of other countries ahead of the vote strikes a markedly different tone to the nuclear threats and wartime sabre-rattling of Putin’s addresses since he invaded Ukraine, calling for “constructive mutually respectful dialogue” and referring to the 47-member Human Rights Council as “a key body in the United Nations system”. Russia is competing with Albania and Bulgaria to win one of two spots up for grabs on the council that are reserved for central and eastern European nations. Ironically one of the countries being replaced is in fact Ukraine – its and the Czech Republic’s terms are expiring. Moscow is going all out to try and reverse the April 2022 vote that saw it booted, experts tell The Independent. Then, 93 countries voted in favour of suspending Russia, while 24 voted against and 58 abstained. “Russia is apparently offering incentives such as grain and arms in exchange for votes. Along with other moves to deepen relations with Africa, we know that President Putin had already promised African states grain back in July at the Russia-Africa Summit,” says Yousuf Syed Khan, a senior lawyer at international human rights firm Global Rights Compliance. “At the same time, Russia is engaged in the systematic pillage of Ukraine’s grain, having rebuilt infrastructure to harness the ability to export millions of tonnes from occupied Ukrainian territory into Russia. This is not a coincidence,” the war crimes lawyer adds. Russia has been accused of weaponising global food security in its war against Ukraine, targeting key Ukrainian infrastructure with missile strikes while at the same time pulling out of a UN-brokered deal that had allowed Kyiv to keep exporting grain to other parts of the world where rising food prices are pushing more people into poverty. “The bottom line is that Russia is in no better standing to join the Human Rights Council now than it was nearly 18 months ago when it was voted off. In many ways, its bid to re-join and the outcome of the vote will be a barometer of Russia’s international standing,” Khan says. Alongside what it can offer in terms of trade, Khan says Russia will likely try to convince smaller countries that they do not want to be “instrumentalised to serve the political wills of Western nations”. “This logic may speak to some of the African States that Russia will desperately need to vote in its favour,” he tells The Independent. This tallies with the language in the position paper Russian diplomats have already distributed. The paper says Moscow “believes it is important to prevent the increasing trend of turning the Human Rights Council into the instrument, which serves political wills of one group of countries punishing non-loyal governments for their independent internal and external policy,” reported CNN. Alfred de Zayas, a former independent UN expert on human rights, says he believes the odds are stacked against Russia rejoining the council, despite the concerns voiced in recent days by Western officials. “At present, there are five eastern European states represented in the council – Czechia [the Czech Republic], Georgia, Lithuania, Montenegro and Ukraine. The terms of Czechia and Ukraine expire in December 2023. There are two openings but three candidates – Albania, Russia and Bulgaria,” he tells The Independent. De Zayas says that there was little in Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s recent comments at the UN General Assembly in New York to suggest a rapprochement with “the collective West” is any nearer. But at the same time, he argues that including Russia on multilateral platforms like the Human Rights Council is exactly what is needed to work towards peace talks to end the Ukraine war. “Maximum inclusiveness, bringing in as many countries as possible would be desirable, so that meaningful exchanges of ideas and perspectives could be conducted. Excluding Russia is counterproductive because it closes an important avenue of compromise and quid pro quo,” says De Zayas. “Precisely because there is a war going on, it is crucial to take advantage of every forum of dialogue,” he suggests. For Khan, however, Russia’s ongoing abuses in Ukraine are likely to see Putin’s charm offensive fall short. “Since the initial days of its full-scale invasion in February last year, Russia has been engaged in starvation as a method of warfare across Ukraine,” he says, recounting Moscow’s significant human rights violations during the conflict. “Unlawful conduct includes the laying of sieges to areas such as Chernihiv and Mariupol while denying access to even the most basic items required for civilian survival such as food, medicine and potable water. “More recently, we have seen Russia attacking grain ports along the Danube, forcing Ukraine to pivot to the Sulina Channel with its exports and to work with Romania, to elicit sanctions relief for Moscow. Russia also destroyed at least 270,000 tonnes of grain in late July and early August alone. None of this is being done with any valid military objective.” The latest report by Mariana Katzarova, the UN’s special rapporteur on Russia’s rights situation within its own borders, noted that rights have been on a “steady decline” over the last two decades but things have “significantly deteriorated since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022”. Mass arbitrary arrests, detentions and harassment were recorded for “anyone speaking out against Russia’s war on Ukraine or daring to criticise the government’s actions,” the report found. The UN’s website says that “with membership on the [Human Rights] Council comes a responsibility to uphold high human rights standards”. “One would hope that all nations vote in line with the HRC membership criteria,” says Khan, who has worked with the UN for a decade on atrocity inquiries, adding that on this point Russia is falling far short. Read More Ukraine-Russia war - live: ‘Nuclear crisis’ warning over Putin-controlled power plant on the frontline Russia tries to rejoin UN Human Rights Council Russia ‘weaponised food and deliberately caused starvation’ in Ukraine Ukraine repels Russian attacks as Putin’s forces try to recapture territory lost in counteroffensive

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Danny Dyer has revealed that he is the proud owner of a loyalty card to Toby Carvery. The former EastEnders star, 45, said he has a “platinum gold card” for the roast dinner restaurant chain, but admitted that he does have a pet peeve when visiting. Speaking on the latest episode of Kathy Burke’s podcast Where There’s A Will There’s A Way, Dyer admitted that people who have an exclusive Nando’s “black card” were “cool”, but he was pleased with his Toby Carvery card. “I’ve got a platinum gold card, I don’t know why,” he told Burke. “I go in now and again, I don’t know what they’ve heard. Some people get the black Nando’s card, that’s the cool one, but I’ve got the f***ing Toby Carvery gold f***ing platinum card. So I’m going there when I want, and I have what I want.” He added that he “loves it in there”, before continuing: “If [Toby Carvery] are listening, I don’t want to lose the card so I’m not taking the piss but there’s something about standing there with your f***ing plate, there’s a geezer in front of you and I can see the taters I want and I can see he’s looking at the same f***ing taters.” Only a select few people are lucky enough to receive a Toby Carvery gold card. It is unclear if the restaurant chain has a “platinum gold” card, as claimed by Dyer, but a handful of other celebrities have posted on social media about getting their hands on one of the special cards. It has been claimed that the cardholder is entitled to free all-you-can-eat roast dinner when they visit a Toby Carvery branch. These include Geordie Shore star Chloe Ferry, who got one in 2019; The Chase star Mark Labbett, who is said to have won over his girlfriend Hayley Palmer with his gold card; Olympian hockey player Samantha Quek; and The Circle star Freddie Bentley. When asked how people can get the elusive gold card, Toby Carvery has kept the secret close. On social media, customer service representatives have told members of the public that they can “neither confirm nor deny the Gold Card exists”. In reply to one person who asked what they “need to do” to get a gold card, Toby Carvery replied coyly: “Gold card? Afraid we don’t know anything about that!” The Independent has contacted Toby Carvery for comment. Elsewhere in the podcast, Dyer also opened up about seeing his daughter Dani Dyer taking part in Love Island. Dani, 26, appeared in the fourth series of the ITV dating reality show in 2018 and won alongside partner Jack Fincham. Dyer said he had never watched Love Island before his daughter entered the villa and admitted that they had “a little row over it” because he “didn’t want her to do it”. “She wanted to be an actor and I was going, ‘Babe, listen, f***ing hell’ and then off she went,” he said. “I sat back and watched it, me and my Mrs, sobbing me heart out every night. I’m a very emotional man, a very sensitive soul. So watching her, she was unbelievable in it. She couldn’t put a foot wrong, she won it from day two. It makes me proud that she come out of my b*****ks, Kath.” Dyer recently became a grandfather for the second time after Dani welcomed twin girls in May with boyfriend Jarrod Bowen. She is also mum to two-year-old son Santiago, who she shares with former partner Sammy Kimmence. Read More How dogs became my greatest adversary on the dating scene Influencers called out for visiting and promoting Shein’s factory in China Paralympian Ellie Simmonds reveals she was adopted as she reconnects with birth mother Three quick and easy plant-based fakeaways to create at home The Union Rye, review: Finally, a decent restaurant in this charming East Sussex town Celebrity chef bans vegans from his restaurant ‘for mental health reasons’

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