Russia took over the presidency of the United Nations Security Council on Saturday 1 April. A news strongly criticized by the Ukrainian government.
“A slap in the face of the international community,” denounced Dmytro Kouleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister. Despite the international context, Russia assumed the rotating presidency of the United Nations (UN) Security Council this Saturday, April 1, and for a period of one month, as provided for in the charter.
“Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council on April 1 is a bad joke. Russia has usurped its seat. It’s a colonial war, its leader is a war criminal wanted by the ICC for child abduction. The world cannot be a safe place with Russia at the UNSC,” Dmytro Kuleba said via Twitter.
The UN Security Council is indeed responsible for the “maintenance of international peace and security“. The 15 members of the Council vote and make important decisions in order to manage potential threats and try to perpetuate international peace.
The members, permanent and non-permanent, hold the presidency in turn for one month each, following the English alphabetical order. Thus, Russia succeeds Mozambique and precedes Switzerland.
“Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council. It shouldn’t be because of what it’s doing in Ukraine, but the UN charter doesn’t allow for changing its status as a permanent member,” said Linda Thomas Greeenfield, US ambassador to the UN.