Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday that Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of April is a “slap in the face to the international community.”
“I urge the current UN Security Council members to thwart any Russian attempts to abuse its presidency,” Dmytro Kuleba said at the start of Russia’s rotating presidency of the body.
Dmytro Kuleba called Russia “an outlaw on the UN Security Council” in a tweet.
Russian UNSC presidency is a slap in the face to the international community. I urge the current UNSC members to thwart any Russian attempts to abuse its presidency. I also remind that Russia is an outlaw on the UNSC: https://t.co/rZVC1pV0MY#BadRussianJoke #InsecurityCouncil
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 1, 2023
Moscow has announced that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will preside over a UN Security Council meeting on “effective multilateralism” later this month.
According to Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Sergei Lavrov will moderate a Middle East debate on April 25.
The US has criticised Russia’s role and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
“A country that flagrantly violates the UN Charter by invading its neighbour has no place on the UN Security Council,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre previously stated.
“Unfortunately, Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council, and there is no viable international legal pathway to change that reality,” she added, calling the presidency “largely ceremonial.”
Russia Takes Charge Of UN Security Council:
Russia will take over the monthly presidency of the 15-member council on Saturday, following a rotation that has been unaffected by the Ukraine conflict.
Russia last held the gavel in February of last year, when Putin declared his “special military operation” on Ukraine in the middle of a council session. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, many of them civilians, cities have been destroyed, and Putin has been charged by the International Criminal Court with the mass abduction of Ukrainian children.
Russia would have little influence over decisions but would set the agenda.
