Although it is impossible to deprive the Russian Federation of membership in the UN Security Council, the leadership of the European Union wants to develop a “freeze” mechanism. This was expressed by Charles Michel, President of the European Council, in an interview with RTVi.
“For me, a suspension mechanism should be established: I am not talking about the complete exclusion of Russia, but at least the suspension of Russia’s membership in the Security Council,” he said.
He acknowledged that “at present this is impossible and would lead to a deadlock of the UN security concept”. Michel also accused the Russian Federation of violating international law – according to him, if it is violated by a permanent member of the UN Security Council, then “there is a flaw in international law”.
“We saw very well that before the start of this war, the concept of UN security was already very insignificant and had many difficulties in functioning in solving major international problems,” he added.
According to Michel, “UN reform is definitely needed” sooner or later to better take into account the balance of the modern world order. He also pointed to the weak representation of African and Latin American countries in the world organization.
Russia’s participation in the UN Security Council as a permanent member is specified in Article 23 of the organization’s charter. TASS notes that the exclusion of the Russian Federation would require changes to this document. At the same time, Russian representatives can veto this initiative.
Calls from Kiev
In June 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke via video link at the UN Security Council meeting. He demanded that Russia be removed from the Security Council.
“Russia has no right to participate in the discussion and vote on issues related to the war in Ukraine for no reason and of a colonial nature. It is possible, necessary, fair. “Russia has no right to remain in the UN Security Council,” he said.
He added that the Russian Federation enjoys the privileges of a permanent member of the UN Security Council “due to the myopia of politicians after the end of the Cold War”.
On October 22, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for Russia to be removed from its permanent seat in the UN Security Council “due to the large number of war crimes committed in Ukraine”.
“After committing the crime of aggression against Ukraine, multiple war crimes, undermining global food and energy security, should Russia still occupy the permanent member seat of the UN Security Council,” the Ukrainian politician wrote on Twitter. he wrote.
USA: impossible
On December 15, Members of Congress Steve Cohen and John Wilson presented a motion to the US legislature calling for President Joe Biden to remove Russia from the UN Security Council.
According to Cohen and Wilson, Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine “violated the purposes and principles of the UN.”
The resolution alleges Moscow has committed “grossful violations” of the UN Charter and “casts doubt on its right to occupy a seat on the Security Council”.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Washington wanted to remove the Russian Federation from the permanent members of the UN Security Council, but acknowledged that this is now impossible.
“If there was a way to prevent Russia from joining the UN Security Council, we would use it right away. “Unfortunately, we do not have the opportunity to change the rules of the UN,” said the representative of the US President.
Jean-Pierre added that in this context, the USA will continue its attempts to isolate the Russian Federation on international platforms.
Position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
On September 15, Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that for the country to be removed from the UN Security Council, a Nobel Prize in mathematics should be awarded.
“I’ll tell you a secret: If we are talking about law, we cannot implement this scenario,” said Zakharova.
The official recalled that the only way to deprive the Russian Federation of relevant status is to change the UN Charter. This requires two-thirds of the members of the organization’s General Assembly to vote for the amendments and to be ratified by 2/3 of the UN member states, including all permanent members of the Security Council.
This stance was also expressed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin and Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya.