Russia assumes UN Security Council presidency amid Ukraine outrage

Russia has assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council despite Ukraine's pleas to oppose the takeover, BBC has reported.

Each of the 15 members of the council assumes the presidency for a month on a rotating basis.

In February 2022, the last time Russia held the presidency, it began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It indicates that the Security Council is governed by a nation whose president is wanted for international arrest for alleged war crimes.

This month, the International Criminal Court, which is not a United Nations institution, issued an arrest warrant for President Putin.

The United States stated that it could not prevent Russia, a permanent council member, from assuming the presidency despite Ukraine's protests, adds the BBC report.

The other permanent members of the council are the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and China.

Vasily Nebenzia, the Russian representative to the United Nations, told the Russian news outlet Tass that he planned to oversee numerous debates, including one on arms control.

He said he would discuss a "new world order" that, he said, was coming to "replace the unipolar one".

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Russia's presidency "the worst joke ever for April Fool's Day" and a "stark reminder that something is wrong with the way international security architecture is functioning".

Ukraine's presidential adviser, Mykhaylo Podolyak, said 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".

President Volodymyr Zelensky called last year for the Security Council to reform or "dissolve altogether", accusing it of failing to take enough action to prevent Russia's invasion.

He has also advocated for Russia's membership to be revoked.

Yet, the US has stated that its hands are bound because the UN charter does not permit the expulsion of a permanent member.

"Unfortunately, Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and no feasible international legal pathway exists to change that reality," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a news briefing this week.

She added the US expects Moscow "to continue to use its seat on the council to spread disinformation" and justify its actions in Ukraine.

The United Nations Security Council is an international council tasked with safeguarding peace.

Kyiv says Russian UN Security Council presidency is 'symbolic blow'

The Security Council is composed of five permanent members. They represent the post-war power structure in place at the time the council was constituted.

Members of this group collaborate with ten non-permanent member countries.

Because Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council, it has the ability to veto resolutions.

A Security Council vote requires nine votes in favour, with none of the five permanent members voting against it.

Russia blocked a resolution meant to terminate Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February of last year (China, India and the United Arab Emirates all abstained).

It vetoed a resolution in September calling for the revocation of its illegal annexation of four Ukrainian territories. Brazil, China, Gabon, and India abstained.