Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, serving as the president of the Security Council, listens as UN's Antonio Guterres,speaks during a UNSC meeting. AP
Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, serving as the president of the Security Council, listens as UN's Antonio Guterres,speaks during a UNSC meeting. AP
In Ukraine, Russia is pursuing a war that has now continued for over 425 days. At the Hague, Russia’s leader and president Vladimir Putin is facing an arrest warrant for war crimes. But, at the United Nations, Moscow is chairing the powerful international body, the Security Council. Talk about absurd!
As the chair of the powerful United Nations Security, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday held a meeting on “Defense of the Principles of the UN Charter” after flying to New York from Moscow. In the meet, the Russian foreign minister warned that the world was at “a dangerous threshold.” He also blamed the United States for exacerbating geopolitical challenges around the world, including tensions between China and Taiwan.
However, the Western members lambasted Russia’s claims of its defence of multilateralism and the UN Charter, pointing directly to Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Let’s take a closer look at what exactly happened in Monday’s meet and how Russia chairing the UNSC is being looked at by many as a joke.
What went down in Monday’s meet?
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov flew to New York for the first time since Moscow began the war in Ukraine last February. The sole purpose of his visit was to chair a Security Council meeting on defending the principles of the UN Charter — a pact designed in part to prevent wars.
In his speech, Lavrov appealed to nations to see Western criticism of Russian actions in Ukraine as part of a larger US plot to prevent the rise of other world powers. He added that the United States wanted “to leverage the openly racist regime” in Kyiv in the hope of weakening Russia and eliminating its competitors.
“It is clear to all, even though not everybody talks about this, it is not at all about Ukraine,” Lavrov said. “It is about how international relations will continue to be shaped through the establishment of a sound consensus on the basis of balance of interests or through the aggressive and volatile advancement of Washington’s hegemony.”
However, his comments weren’t well received. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “violation” of international law and the UN charter. The war “is causing massive suffering and devastation to the country and its people, and adding to the global economic dislocation triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Guterres said.
The UN chief added, “The multilateral system is under greater strain than at any time since the creation of the United Nations. Tensions between major powers are at an historic high. So are the risks of conflict, through misadventure or miscalculation.”
The United States and its allies also took the opportunity to slam Russia for the war and called its remarks hypocritical. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called Russia a “hypocritical convener” of the meeting whose “illegal, unprovoked and unnecessary” war in Ukraine “struck at the heart of the UN Charter and all that we hold dear.”
Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward said the world has seen “what Russia’s idea of multilateralism means for the world” — the trampling of the UN Charter and a war that has brought unimaginable suffering to Ukraine and been “an unmitigated disaster for Russia, too.”
The 27-member European Union called Russia’s attempt to portray itself as a defender of the UN Charter and multilateralism “cynical,” saying it is “in contempt” not only of the UN Charter but UN General Assembly resolutions demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces.
“Russia is trying to portray itself as a defender of the UN Charter and multilateralism. Nothing can be further from the truth. It’s cynical,” said Olof Skoog, EU representative to the United Nations. “We all know that while Russia is destroying, we are building. While they violate, we protect.”
Ishikane Kimihiro, the Japanese envoy, blasted Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and demanded an immediate withdrawal of its forces from the country. “It is an irony, even a tragedy, that the Russian Federation, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, continues its unilateral aggression against Ukraine while hosting an open debate on effective multilateralism through the defence of the principle of the UN Charter.”
Russia’s presidency of UNSC
Russia’s Monday meeting was part of it being the chair for the United Nations Security Council. For the month of April, Russia has been at the helm of the United Nations’ most powerful organ. This comes as a result of a long set of rules: The Security Council’s presidency rotates each month among the 15 members based on where their countries’ names fall on the English alphabet.
The last time Russia held this important position was in February last year when Vladimir Putin had declared his “special military operation” in the middle of a council session on Ukraine.
The country that holds the presidency is capable of shaping the month’s agenda by picking themes to emphasise. And Russia has chosen the platform to convince countries of its aggression against Ukraine or avoid taking any action to undermine Moscow.
Hypocrisy revealed
The fact that Russia chairs the important body has been called out by many as hypocritical as well as farcical. Ukrainian officials and a number of international observers and Members of the European Parliament had called for Russia to be removed from its membership or be blocked from assuming presidency.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhaylo Podolyak had been quoted as saying that the move was “another rape of international law… an entity that wages an aggressive war, violates the norms of humanitarian and criminal law, destroys the UN Charter, neglects nuclear safety, can’t head the world’s key security body.”
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba called the situation “a bad joke.” He had told a Chatham House event, “Frankly speaking, you cannot imagine a worse joke for April Fools’ Day. The country that systematically violated all fundamental rules of international security is presiding over a body whose only mission is to protect international security.”
Kuleba also questioned the functioning of the UNSC, saying there was something inherently wrong with the way the organisation worked. “This presidency is a stark reminder that something is wrong with the way international security is functioning if a country which has illegitimately acquired the seat of a permanent member of the UN Security Council is presiding over a body while conducting a large scale act of aggression against another sovereign member and another founding member of the United Nations,” he was quoted as saying.
Finland’s former prime minister Alexander Stubb also shared the same feelings as Ukraine. In a tweet, he said it was an “absolute disgrace” that Russia was being allowed to chair the UN Security Council. “A country that is violating the very foundations that the [organisation] stands for. A sad day for a rules based multilateral world order, or whatever is left of it,” he wrote.
And Peter Yeo, senior vice president at the United Nations Foundation — who watches the world body’s proceedings closely, told the Politico, “It’s a nasty moment of diplomacy and I don’t think it’s going to go over well.”
But the US maintains that their hands are tied by the rules laid down by the UN. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had told a press briefing, “Unfortunately, Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and no feasible international legal pathway exists to change that reality.”
Moreover, other experts noted that by boycotting the UNSC sessions, it would allow for Russia to spread disinformation and justify its actions in Ukraine. Hence, it was necessary not only to attend but to counter Moscow on the global stage.
Moreover, as one US diplomat told the Politico that it was unwise to put a blockade on all Security Council business. “I mean, look at Sudan right now. Look at the situation in Afghanistan. There has been another missile test from [North Korea],” the diplomat said. “Boycotting the council … is not going to do anything to the current tensions on every continent.”
With inputs from agencies
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