Ukrainian foreign minister says Russia’s presidency of UN Security Council a ‘bad joke’

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine’s foreign minister on Thursday said Russia’s upcoming one-month presidency of the UN Security Council is a “bad joke.”

“Russian UN Security Council presidency on April 1 is a bad joke. Russia has usurped its seat; it’s waging a colonial war; its leader is a war criminal wanted by the ICC for kidnapping children. The world can’t be a safe place with Russia at UNSC,” Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.

The UN Security Council has 15 members and its presidency is held by each of the members in turn for one month, following the English alphabetical order. Russia will assume the presidency on Saturday.

Under the UN Charter, all members are obligated to comply with the decisions of the Security Council, whose primary responsibility is maintaining international peace and security.

Last December, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry claimed that the status of Russia’s UN membership and its permanent seat at the Security Council following the dissolution of the Soviet Union remained “unsettled” from "the point of view of international law."

It argued that Russia failed to meet the main criteria for membership in the UN, referring to the first paragraph of Article 4 of the UN Charter, which says “membership in the UN is open to all peace-loving states,” alluding to Moscow’s launch of its "special military operation" in Ukraine.