Vasily Nebenzya, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Nations gives a speech during a UN Security Council meeting at United Nations Headquarters in Recent York, United States on April 5, 2018.
Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Russia assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council over the weekend, at the same time as its invasion of Ukraine escalates.
Russia is one in every of the five everlasting members of the U.N. Security Council and due to this fact holds veto authority on any measure proposed before the international forum.
The presidency rotates every month amongst 15 members, with the opposite everlasting members being China, France, the U.K. and the U.S. together with 10 non-permanent members elected to two-year terms by the U.N. General Assembly.
The scheduled presidency change comes on the heels of the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes committed during his invasion of Ukraine. The warrant is the primary time the ICC, a body of the United Nations, has taken such a measure against a pacesetter whose country is a everlasting member of the Security Council.Â
‘You can’t imagine a worse joke’
Last week, Ukraine’s top diplomat panned Russia’s upcoming chairmanship of the United Nations Security Council and called the situation “a nasty joke.”
“Frankly speaking, you can’t imagine a worse joke for April Fools’ Day. The country that systematically violated all fundamental rules of international security is presiding over a body whose only mission is to guard international security,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a Chatham House event via video link from Kyiv.
“I do not think Russia will give you the option to alter the balance contained in the Security Council during its presidency. It’s going to attempt to abuse its rights of the presidency to push for its own narratives, but I doubt they may give you the option to secure the sufficient variety of votes to make the council adopt decisions on matters related specifically to Ukraine.”
The last time Russia’s ambassador to the U.N., Vasily Nebenzya, presided over the body tasked with the “maintenance of international peace and security” was February 2022, the month Moscow invaded Ukraine. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion last yr, Russia vetoed a resolution geared toward halting the war, while China, India and the UAE abstained.
The presidency won’t lead to the passage of any pro-Russian affirmations and the role is basically seen as procedural, but Moscow will give you the option to set the agenda for debates over the subsequent month.
What’s more, Nebenzya is anticipated to make use of the forum to advance pro-Russian narratives.
Nevertheless, the presidency being held by a rustic whose president is currently subject to an arrest warrant by the ICC has raised serious questions on its purpose.
“Russia’s presidency of the U.N. Security Council is basically symbolic but it surely’s deeply offensive,” Daniel Runde, a senior vp on the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNBC.
“A everlasting member of the Security Council has invaded one other sovereign country, is committing war crimes and annexing territory is ironic,” Runde added.
A ‘systemic blow’
Representatives vote during a UN Security Council meeting on the UN headquarters in Recent York, on Feb. 15, 2023. The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Wednesday to renew Yemen sanctions measures of asset freeze and travel ban until Nov. 15, 2023.
Eskinder Debebe | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
Ukrainian officials and plenty of international observers and Members of the European Parliament have called for Russia to be faraway from its membership, and in recent weeks called on Western everlasting members to veto the presidency.
Nevertheless, the U.S. claimed it was certain by the U.N. charter, which doesn’t permit the expulsion of a everlasting member.
“Unfortunately, Russia is a everlasting member of the Security Council and no feasible international legal pathway exists to alter that reality,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing in Washington last week.
President Joe Biden’s ambassador to the United Nations told reporters on Monday that the U.S. expects Russia to “carry their presidency in knowledgeable way.”
“We also expect that they may use their seat to spread disinformation and to advertise their very own agenda because it pertains to Ukraine and we’ll stand able to call them out at each moment that they attempt to try this,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
Last yr, Thomas-Greenfield led efforts to strip Russia of its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. On the time, she said that Russia’s membership on the council hurts its credibility, “undermines the complete U.N. and it’s just plain unsuitable.”
Recent US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks after meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the United Nations on February 25, 2021 in Recent York City.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
Ahead of the vote, reports emerged that Russian troops tortured and killed Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, a suburb near Kyiv.
The bodies were discovered after Moscow withdrew its troops following a surprising Ukrainian offensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the aftermath, which he saw firsthand, as a “genocide” and accused Russia of war crimes. The Kremlin has previously described its military actions in Ukraine as a “special operation” and has denied targeting civilians.
The resolution to strip Russia of its seat on the Human Rights Council passed with 93 votes in favor, 24 against and 58 abstentions. Belarus, China, Iran, Russia and Syria were among the many U.N. members that voted against the resolution. India abstained from voting.
Meanwhile, Nebenzya told Russia’s TASS news agency recently that he intends to oversee several debates, including a discussion of a “recent world order” that he claimed will “replace the unipolar one,” a frequent reference amongst Russia and its allies to the toppling of long-established U.S. hegemony.
“This presidency is a stark reminder that something is unsuitable with the way in which international security is functioning if a rustic which has illegitimately acquired the seat of a everlasting member of the UN Security Council is presiding over a body while conducting a big scale act of aggression against one other sovereign member and one other founding member of the United Nations,” Kuleba said.
“One of the best we will do is to take these months to truly highlight the issues that exist in multilateralism and the issues that Russia is exploiting for its own profit.”
His outrage was echoed on Saturday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said of Russia’s ascent to the chair that “it is difficult to assume something more evident that proves the entire bankruptcy of such institutions.”
Zelenskyy’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak wrote on Twitter over the weekend that the situation was “one other symbolic blow to the rules-based system of diplomacy.”
