The American authorities see no way to deprive Russia of permanent membership in the UN Security Council, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a briefing.
“I don’t see that possibility. <…> We are focused on isolating Russia and holding it to account,” Psaki said (quoted by TASS).
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that he had initiated a legal analysis of the grounds on which Russia remains a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Kyiv is counting on the recognition of the “illegitimacy” of Russia’s status in the organization’s Security Council. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called such a statement absurd. According to her, the West does not understand whether it is possible or not to deprive Russia of its status in the UN Security Council, because they have long abandoned following the legal course.
On February 21, Russia recognized the independence of the DNR and LNR. On February 22, President Vladimir Putin signed federal laws on the ratification of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance treaties with these territories, including military assistance. On February 24, Putin announced the start of a special military operation in the Donbass. He called its goal “the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.” The President assured that Russia has no plans to occupy Ukraine, but Moscow will strive for the demilitarization and denazification of this country. As Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov explained, NATO bases with nuclear weapons were to appear on the territory of Ukraine. The US, Canada, EU, UK, Japan and other countries have imposed tough economic sanctions on Russia.