The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, announced the EU’s intention to fight against the “abuses” of the Russian Federation, who became the head of the UN Security Council on April 1. He wrote this on his Twitter.
“The beginning of the Russian presidency of the UN Security Council is appropriate for April 1,” Borrell joked.
Finally, he accused Moscow of “consistently violating UN legal norms”.
Dmitry Polyansky, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, said that for some countries, Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council is “like a bone in the throat”.
“As befits presidents, we will be honest intermediaries, as we were in February 2022, when our presidency had to launch a special military operation (SVO),” he added on his Telegram channel.
Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the presidency of the UN Security Council will be “fulfilled”. He stated that Moscow intends to “exercise all its rights as a responsible member of the organization”.
reaction in the west
The British newspaper The Sun, quoting Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidency, reported that the inauguration of Russia’s presidency in the UN Security Council was a “symbolic blow”.
“Ukrainian officials were very angry that Russia took over the presidency of the United Nations Security Council today,” The Sun reporters said.
An unnamed representative of the US State Department told RBC that Washington expects “Russia to act professionally”.
“But we expect Russia to continue to use its seat in the Security Council to spread disinformation, divert attention, and justify its actions in Ukraine, war crimes committed by its military personnel, and violations of the UN convention.” The US official added. .
Peter Stano, representative of the European External Action Service, noted in a conversation with RBC that the Russian Federation “continues to violate the UN Charter and international law and has lost every moral and other right to sit on the UN Security Council.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky previously called Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council “ridiculous and devastating news” in a video message.
“It’s hard to imagine anything that proves the complete bankruptcy of such institutions. And there will be no reason to stop the reform of global institutions, especially the UN Security Council. “It’s overdue reform so that a terrorist state and any other state that wants to be a terrorist cannot destroy the world,” he said.
April Fools’ Day was also commemorated by Verkhovna Rada Spokesperson Ruslan Stefanchuk.
“The worst joke is Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council. Body responsible for maintaining international peace and security. The world seems to have gone crazy,” wrote the head of the Ukrainian parliament on social networks.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis also did not hesitate to joke. He said the republic “invites Russia to the post of head of the Security Council” and “looks forward to vigorous discussions about Ukraine’s proposal for the destination of your warships”. In addition, Ukrainian Channel 24, which published its tweet, used the phrase “Ukraine, the USA and the other civilized world are against Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council.”
Andrew McLeod, visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, told Euronews: The Presidency of the Security Council is a “routine” task and is of no particular importance.
“If a permanent member of the Security Council finds himself on one side or the other in an armed conflict, <…> There’s nothing the Security Council can do to stop him because right now it will use its veto power over Ukraine, as Russia has potentially done on Taiwan and the US on Afghanistan and Iraq. So this is a normal situation,” said the expert.
The UN Security Council consists of five permanent members (China, Russian Federation, Great Britain, USA and France) and ten non-permanent members (now Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, Malta, Mozambique, UAE, Switzerland). , Ecuador and Japan.
Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said that key meetings in the Security Council will be devoted to “multipolarity”, “Middle East solution” and “the problem of uncontrolled arms exports”.
The President of the Security Council has the authority to convene, open and close meetings, approve the agenda prepared by the UN Secretary-General, speak to representatives and sign the documents adopted. At the same time, the president has no opportunity to influence this or that decision on the country’s Security Council resolutions. Any resolution can be vetoed by any of the permanent member states of the UN Security Council.