Russia assumes presidency of UN Security Council despite Ukraine’s protest

Europe, News April 2, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Russia assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for one month on April 1, 2023. Ukraine protested Russia’s presidency, urging the other members to block the move.

The United Nations Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the UN. It is made up of 15 members in total and focuses on maintaining global peace and stability.

The UN Security Council has 5 permanent members, the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France, and 10 non-permanent members. Currently, Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Malta, Japan, Mozambique, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates are non-permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Under the UN charter, the presidency of the UN Security Council rotates among the 15 members on a monthly basis in alphabetical order. Each member must take turns to preside over the sessions each month as president.

Last time it was in February 2022 when Russia presided over the UN Security Council, at the same time Russia started the invasion of Ukraine. Several United Nations resolutions have been passed since then condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The UN General Assembly also demanded Russia immediately withdraw from Ukraine to be in line with the UN charter.

Ukraine has protested Russia’s presidency of the United Nation’s most powerful body, urging the other 14 members to block the move. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba described Russia assuming the council presidency on April 1 as “the world’s worst April Fool’s joke.”

Kuleba said that “The country which systematically violates all fundamental rules of international security is presiding over a body whose only mission is to safeguard and protect international security.”

^{Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya speaks during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on February 23, 2022, at U.N. headquarters. (Image Credit: UNTV/via AP)}

Adding to the discomfort of Russia’s role as the UN Security Council president is the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin became the first-ever head of the UN Security Council member state to be issued with arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Putin has been accused of forcefully deporting Ukrainian citizens and particularly children to Russia.

After the warrants, it is possible that the Russian president would be arrested on arrival at any of the state parties to the Rome Statute. 123 countries are State Parties of the International Criminal Court, the list includes 18 countries from Eastern Europe and 25 countries from Western Europe and North America. 10 of the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council are also signatories of the Rome Statute, meaning that the Russian President would be arrested on arrival at any of these 10 states.