War in Ukraine, day 402 | Russian Presidency of the Security Council: Ukraine calls for UN reform

(Kyiv) Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the “bankruptcy” of the United Nations, where Russia took over the presidency of the Security Council for the month of April on Saturday.

“It is difficult to imagine anything that proves (further) the complete bankruptcy of such institutions”, launched in his evening message Mr. Zelensky.

“There is no form of terror that Russia has not already exercised,” he continued, calling for “reform of global institutions, including the UN Security Council.”

This “obviously overdue reform is to prevent a terrorist state […] to destroy the world. Terrorists must lose, must be held responsible for terror and should not preside anywhere,” insisted Volodymyr Zelensky.

His Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba had previously described the Russian presidency as a “slap in the face” given to “the international community”, with Westerners talking about “April Fool’s Day”.

“Current members” of the executive body of the UN must “thwart any attempt” by Russia to “abuse its presidency”, had urged Mr. Kouleba who, already on Thursday, had castigated this “bad joke”.

“Russia has usurped her seat; it is waging a colonial war; its president is a war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court for child abduction,” he stormed.

Lavrov at the controls

These criticisms from Kyiv did not prevent Moscow from ensuring that its delegation to the UN this month, to succeed Mozambique, would be well led by the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov.

“Another key event of the Russian presidency will be the high-level open debate of the (Security) Council on “Effective multilateralism through the defense of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations”. This meeting will be chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,” his spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, even told reporters on Thursday.

She pointed out that Mr. Lavrov also intended to chair a session of debates on the Middle East on April 25.

Kyiv’s diplomatic backers, primarily the United States, quickly rose up against such a position.

“We expect Russia to continue to use its headquarters to spread disinformation and try to distract from its attempts to justify its actions in Ukraine and the war crimes that members of its armed forces are committing. “commented Thursday the spokeswoman for the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre. “A country that flagrantly violates the UN Charter and invades its neighbor has no place in the Security Council.”

The Baltic countries, strongly opposed to Moscow, for their part spoke on Saturday of “April Fool’s Day”.

“April Fool’s Day is a perfect day” for Russia, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry quipped. “Russia, which is waging a brutal war on Ukraine, can only lead the ‘Council of Insecurity’”.

For its part, the Estonian diplomatic mission to the UN has found it “shameful and humiliating” that the United Nations Security Council is led by Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin is “a war criminal with an arrest warrant. standing of the ICC”.

“Not essential”

At the UN, Russia says for its part to face “the collective West”, which has banned it from nations since the start of its military offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.

The first meeting of the Security Council under the current Russian presidency will take place on Monday morning, but it will only be the usual closed-door discussions on the work program for the month.

It will be followed, as usual, by a press conference by the new president of this body, the Russian ambassador Vassili Nebenzia.

It is “a rotating presidency. It’s every month, it’s a short presidency and it’s not essential like a G20, G7 or European Union presidency where you preside for six months or a year and inject your own agenda “Insisted in this regard a diplomat to the Security Council.

“In case of abuse by the presidency, we will react, of course. This is not the subject. The important thing is the war in Ukraine and making sure we end it,” he added.

On this last point, Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed by telephone on Saturday the “diplomatic efforts to be made to organize a summit on peace”, according to the French presidency.

Volodymyr Zelensky clarified on Telegram that he and his counterpart had considered “the next steps to implement” his 10-point peace plan. “We have coordinated actions for the next international events,” he added.

Russia’s presidency of the United Nations Security Council — Moscow held it in February 2022, when Vladimir Putin ordered his army to invade Ukraine — comes a week after the Russian president announced plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, its only European diplomatic ally, reinforcing the fears of Westerners.