image source, Reuters
A Russian tank in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol in March last year.
Russia assumed the presidency of the UN Security Council this Saturday despite the exhortations that Ukraine made to the rest of the members to block the measure.
Each of the 15 countries that make up the council assumes the presidency for one month according to a rotation pattern.
The last time Russia became president in February 2022undertook the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This means that right now the Security Council is run by a country whose president is subject to an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes.
The International Criminal Courtan institution that is not part of the UN system, issued one orarrest warrant against Vladimir Putin last month.
Despite claims made by Ukraine, the United States said it could not prevent Russia, a permanent member of the council, from assuming the presidency.
Besides Russia, the other permanent members of the council are the United Kingdom, the United States, France and China.
It is role is mainly proceduralbut Moscow ambassador to United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, told the Russian news agency Tass that he planned to oversee several debates, including one on gun control.
He added that he would discuss the “new world order” which, he said, comes to “replace the unipolar one.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Russia’s presidency “the worst prank for April Fool’s Day” (which, precisely, is celebrated in some countries of the world on April 1 instead of December). He also said that he was a “stark reminder that something is wrong with the way the international security framework works.”
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhalo Podolyak said this move was “another violation of international law. An entity that wages an aggressive war, violates the norms of humanitarian and criminal law, destroys the UN Charter and neglects security.” nuclear power, cannot lead the world’s key security body.
No legal way to stop it
Already last year, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called for the Security Council to be reformed or “completely dissolved” and accused him of not taking sufficient measures to prevent the invasion of Russia.
also asked stripping Russia of its membership status.
The United States told him that his hands were tied, since the UN charter does not allow removal of a permanent member.
“Unfortunately, Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and there is no viable international legal path to change that reality“, argued the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, in a press conference this week.
He added that the United States believes Moscow “will continue to use its council seat to spread disinformation” and justify its actions in Ukraine.
The UN Security Council is an international body responsible for keeping peace.
in it there is five nations that are permanently represented and that reflect the power structure that existed after the Second World War, when the council was formed.
In turn, these five countries work together with another 10 that are not permanent members.
The fact that Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council implies that can veto resolutions of the organism.
And this is key because, for a Security Council resolution to be approved, 9 votes in favor are needed and none of the five permanent members vote against.
In February last year Russia vetoed a resolution seeking to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained.
In September too vetoed another resolution calling for the revocation of the illegal annexation for their part from four regions of Ukraine. In this case, it was Brazil, China, Gabon and India who abstained.
image source, Getty Images
Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC Mundo. Download the new version of our app and activate them so you don’t miss out on our best content.