Ukraine Seeks Russia’s Expulsion From UN Security Council

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Ukraine asked Monday for the United Nations member states to strip Russia of its seat on the U.N. Security Council, calling its status as a permanent member “illegal.” 

In an official statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the status of the Russian Federation as a U.N. member state and a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, “remains unsettled.”

“Russia falsely considers the issue settled, referring to the fact that since December 24, 1991, and publicly — since December 31, 1991, a country name plate for the Russian Federation appeared in the U.N. Security Council. In fact, according to the U.N. Charter, there has never been legitimate grounds for this,” the statement notes.

In a tweet, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, “31 years ago Russia abused the UN Charter and usurped USSR’s seat at the UN Security Council — bypassing the only legitimate procedure set by the Charter. Russia’s presence at the UNSC and the UN as a whole is illegitimate.”

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the U.N. Charter does not contain the words “Russian Federation.” The country did not complete the procedures for acquiring membership as, for example, the Czech Republic and Slovakia did after Czechoslovakia had collapsed.

“Therefore, the Russian Federation has never gone through the legal procedure to be admitted to membership and therefore illegally occupies the seat of the USSR in the UN Security Council. From a legal and political point of view, there can be only one conclusion: Russia is an usurper of the Soviet Union’s seat in the UN Security Council,” the statement says.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that for 30 years, the actions of Russia have not been those of a “peace-loving” state. 

“Three decades of its illegal presence in the UN have been marked by wars and seizure of other countries’ territories, forceful change of internationally recognized borders, and attempts to satisfy its invasive and neo-imperial ambitions.”

When asked about Russia’s possible removal from the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told VOA’s Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze, “We do not think that the kinds of actions that Russia is taking in Ukraine are worthy of a country that is a permanent member of the Security Council.”

The ambassador said she does not “see that path” of kicking Russia off the Security Council but, she added, “I don’t think that we should give up on that possibility if presented the opportunity.”

Ukranian drone shot down

Russian news agencies quoted the country’s Defense Ministry as saying Russian troops shot down a Ukrainian drone Monday, with the debris from the aircraft killing three people as it fell on a base in southern Russia.

The ministry said that the drone was flying at a low altitude early Monday as it approached the Engels military airfield in Russia’s Saratov region, and that the three dead were Russian servicemen.

The base is hundreds of kilometers from the front lines in Ukraine, which Russian forces invaded February 24.

Russia said Ukrainian drones attacked the same base December 5.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Rossiya 1 state television Sunday that his country is ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine, but that Kyiv and its Western backers have refused to engage in talks.

The Kremlin said it would fight until all its aims were achieved, while Kyiv said it would not rest until every Russian soldier was ejected from all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

“We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them — we are not the ones refusing to negotiate; they are,” Putin said in the interview.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that Putin needed to return to reality and acknowledge that it was Russia that did not want to negotiate.

“Russia single-handedly attacked Ukraine and is killing citizens,” Podolyak said on Twitter. “Russia doesn’t want negotiations but tries to avoid responsibility.”

He echoed the United States’ CIA assessment earlier in December that Russia was not yet serious about a real negotiation to end the war.

Putin argued that Russia was acting in the “right direction” in Ukraine because the West, led by the United States, was trying to cleave Russia apart. Washington denies it is plotting Russia’s collapse.

“I believe that we are acting in the right direction; we are defending our national interests, the interests of our citizens, our people. And we have no other choice but to protect our citizens,” Putin said.

VOA’s Eastern Europe Bureau Chief, Myroslava Gongadze, contributed to this story.

VOA

The VOA is the Voice of America

One thought on “Ukraine Seeks Russia’s Expulsion From UN Security Council

  • December 27, 2022 at 4:21 pm
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    the vast majority of nations want the UN to reform into a functional body.
    Maybe the 5 most populous nations should be Security Council members, maybe the General assembly voltes should be counted based on population or each nation, maybe illegal wars of aggression should be subject to sanctions.
    but trying to silence a country seems like the opposite direction

    Reply

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