Russia has taken over the UN Security Council presidency despite Ukraine’s pleading with council members to oppose the action.
On a rotating basis, each of the 15 council members has the presidency for one month.
In February 2022, when Russia last held the president, it started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It denotes that a nation whose president is wanted internationally for alleged war crimes is in charge of the Security Council.
Despite Ukraine’s complaints, the US said it could not stop Russia, a permanent council member, from taking the presidency. The International Criminal Court, which is not a UN institution, issued the warrant for Vladimir Putin last month.
The United Kingdom, the United States, France, and China are the council’s other permanent members.
Vasily Nebenzia, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, told the Russian Tass news agency that he intended to preside over several debates, including one on arms control. The position is primarily procedural.
He promised to talk about the “new world order” that will “replace the unipolar one.”
In a subsequent statement on Saturday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Russia’s presidency “a slap in the face to the international community” and “the worst joke ever for April Fool’s Day.” He also called it “a stark reminder that something is wrong with the way international security architecture is functioning.”
Mykhaylo Podolyak, a presidential adviser for Ukraine, criticized the decision as “another rape of international law… an entity that wages an aggressive war, violates standards of humanitarian and criminal law, tramples on the UN Charter, disregards nuclear safety, and can’t lead the world’s foremost security organization.”
Last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded that the Security Council be reformed or “dissolved entirely,” accusing it of not doing enough to stop Russia’s invasion.
He has also demanded that Russia lose its membership.
