A Russian tank entered the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in March last year.
- reporter, George Wright
- reporter, BBC News
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5 hours ago
Despite Ukraine’s urging to oppose it, Russia took the presidency of the United Nations Security Council.
The 15 member states of the United Nations Security Council take turns chairing each month.
The last time Russia was chaired was in February 2022, when it launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine.
This means that the UN Security Council will be led by a country whose president has an international arrest warrant for war crimes.
Last month the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin. The International Criminal Court is not a body of the United Nations.
Despite Ukraine’s complaints, the United States is unable to prevent Russia, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, from assuming the presidency.
Other permanent members are the United Kingdom, the United States, France and China.
While the presidency was largely formal, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nevenziah, told Russian state news agency TASS that he planned to oversee talks, including those on arms control.
He said he would discuss “a new world order that would replace the unipolar one”.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleva called the Russian presidency “the worst April Fool’s joke ever” and “a clear reminder that something is wrong with the way the international security structure works.”
“(This) is an insult to the international community,” he added last Saturday.
Ukraine’s presidential aide, Mikhailo Podolyak, called Russia’s assumption of the presidency “another violation of international law” and “prolonging an aggressive war, violating the norms of humanitarian and criminal law, destroying the UN Charter and disregarding nuclear security .” It is a group that cannot lead the world’s key security institutions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year called for the reform or “complete dissolution” of the Security Council, accusing it of not doing enough to prevent a Russian invasion.
President Zelensky also called for Russia to be removed from its permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
However, the United States said it had no choice because it could not expel a permanent member of the United Nations according to the United Nations Charter.
“Unfortunately, Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and there is no practical way to change this reality in international law,” White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said in a briefing to the press this week.
White House spokesman Jean-Pierre added that the United States expects Russia to “continue to use its permanent seat to spread disinformation” and justify its actions in Ukraine.
The United Nations Security Council is an international organization responsible for maintaining peace.
The Security Council has five permanent members. These five countries reflect the post-war power structure when the Security Council was first formed.
Five permanent members plus 10 non-permanent members make up the Security Council.
Russia’s permanent member status means it has the right to veto decisions.
For a decision to pass the Security Council vote, it must receive at least nine votes in favor and no votes against it among the five permanent members.
In February last year, Russia vetoed a resolution to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained).
Russia also vetoed a resolution in September calling for the withdrawal of its illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine. Brazil, China, Gabon and India abstained.
