Russia’s presidency over the UN Security Council: Ukraine’s response

As Russia took over the charge of the United Nations Security Council last month, the country’s leader is accused of war crimes and causing fury in Ukraine, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pointed out the absurdity and destructive nature of the change in position. “And at the same time, Russia is chairing the UN Security Council. It’s hard to imagine anything that proves more the total bankruptcy of such institutions,” he said. In February 2022, when Moscow troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia at the time held the rotating presidency of the body,  responsible for maintaining peace and combating acts of international aggression.

Each month, the 15 members alternate holding the presidency in alphabetical order. The Kremlin and other Russian officials vowed to “exercise all its rights” in the position, despite the fact that it is purely procedural. Oddity, absurdity, and a certain level of hypocrisy are “commonplace” at the United Nations. But this month, as Russia has assumed the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council and used it to legitimize its conflict with Ukraine, the rolling of the eyes has reached epic proportions. The most potent body inside the UN is the Security Council. It can direct peacekeeping missions, impose penalties, and send war crimes cases to international courts, among other things. The outcome of long-established regulations is that Russia is now in the presidency. The 15 members of the Security Council alternate holding the presidency, according to where their national names appear on the English alphabet.

The US urged Russia to “conduct itself professionally” when it assumed the role last month, saying there was no way to stop Moscow from doing so. President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights were the targets of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a body of international law independent of the UN, in March. The ICC accused them of committing the war crime of forcibly removing hundreds of children from Ukraine.

Moreover, Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, called Russia’s Security Council chair a “slap in the face to the international community.” All international bodies, according to Zelenskyy,  including the Security Council, needed a thorough reform. To stop a terrorist state — or any other state that wants to be a terrorist — from upsetting the peace, he argued, reform is definitely required. Approximately 400 days into the conflict, which has already claimed thousands of lives, destroyed Ukrainian cities, and driven millions of civilians from their homes, Russia is still annexing parts of the nation while advancing with its offensive in the east.

The Kremlin has already conducted meetings to defend its kidnapping of Ukrainian children as a protective measure and to charge Western nations with irresponsible arms transfers by providing Kyiv with weaponry. A second shot was launched when Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, is expected to preside over a Security Council discussion on upholding the values of the United Nations Charter, which was created in part to prevent conflicts.

Undoubtedly, a lot can be heavily altered by the president country that assumes charge of the month’s agenda, choosing where to highlight. Nevertheless, in most cases, when other members request it, council presidents will call meetings on topics they find objectionable.

However, the council presidency provides Russia with the perfect platform from which to persuade many nations to either back its invasion of Ukraine or refrain from taking any significant steps to undermine Moscow. A State Department individual with knowledge of the preparations claims that the US strategy for Russia’s presidency this month relied mainly on modifying its degree of participation as a tactic to convey Washington’s discontent.

As a result, some meetings have been attended by lower-ranking diplomats rather than US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. The official, who was given anonymity so that they could discuss private diplomatic conversations, claimed that those officials later left at crucial moments. However, the UN’s organizational structure also results in the possibility of human rights-violating nations serving on committees that support human rights. There are frequent misunderstandings about what specific texts and rules actually mean, such as what constitutes “sovereignty” or “war.” UN Secretary-General even states that the Security Council failed in Ukraine.

References

• Russia running the U.N. Security Council is going about how you’d expect. politico.com. Available here