Russia will boycott – a rare move – a meeting of the UN Security Council with the European Union’s Political and Security Committee (PSC) on Wednesday, illustrating a further deterioration in relations between Moscow and partners at the United Nations, according to diplomats.
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According to a Russian diplomatic source speaking on condition of anonymity, Moscow’s decision is linked to the situation in Ukraine. A Western diplomat told AFP that he had no recollection of a Russian boycott of a Security Council meeting since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
This annual informal meeting between the Security Council and the PSC had not been held since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, it should make it possible to address the interactions of the European Union with the UN in countries where the two organizations are carrying out operations, such as in Bosnia, the Central African Republic or Mali.
The PSC is made up of ambassadors representing the 27 member countries of the EU. After New York, these ambassadors must go to Washington for a meeting with American officials, according to a diplomat.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, relations have steadily deteriorated between Russia and countries or groups of countries within the UN. Moscow, which remains one of the five permanent members of the Security Council with veto power, was ousted from several UN bodies, including the Human Rights Council.
During a press conference during the day, the American ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, whose country holds the presidency of the Security Council in May, assured the media that the latter continued to function normally. .
She had estimated that the Security Council had even “experienced an extraordinary success” in having “succeeded in isolating Russia” since the end of February.
“It’s a significant success,” she insisted. “We succeeded in unifying the voices condemning Russia in the General Assembly, but this happened because of the broad support that existed for this in the Security Council”, argued the American diplomat, without recalling that, thanks to its right of veto, Moscow had escaped a condemnation at the end of February from the Security Council.
“Russia is isolated in the Security Council, and every time we have a discussion in the Security Council regarding Russia, it is on the defensive and we will continue to keep it on the defensive until it puts end to its brutal attack on the Ukrainian people,” she said.