Russia takes over the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council on Saturday. Ukraine denounces "a bad joke"
Russia will preside over the UN Security Council for one month under the rules, a presidency criticised by Ukraine and the United States, according to AFP.
Russia took over the presidency of the UN Security Council on Saturday 1 April, despite Ukraine's efforts to block the move, reports the BBC. Amid the war in Ukraine, the question has arisen of how Russia could oversee a body designed to maintain international peace and security. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will chair the next meeting of the UN security council.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba called it "the worst April Fool's joke ever". Basically, at the moment, the UN Security Council is being led by a country whose president - Vladimir Putin - has an arrest warrant for war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court. Russia last held the presidency of the Security Council in February 2022, the very month it launched the invasion of Ukraine.
Despite complaints from the government in Kiev, the US has made it clear that it cannot block Russia - a permanent member of the Security Council - from taking over the chairmanship. The UN Security Council has 15 members (countries), and each member has one vote. Under the UN charter, all member states are bound by the council's decisions.
Each member takes it in turns to chair the Council, rotating every month. The chairmanship of this Council is more formal, according to the BBC, although the Russian ambassador to the UN told TASS that Russia has been preparing several "debates" during this period, including on the "new world order" that would replace the current "unipolar world".
