![]() ![]() Since Ukraine was a charter member of the United Nations in 1946-added to the body by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin along with Belarus in a negotiated effort to give Moscow more votes-some doubt that it could lay any claim to Russia’s membership. Security Council members could push through a nine-country majority vote on Russia’s membership if the United States or another member backs a challenge by a Ukrainian representative to issue credentials to fulfill the Soviet Union’s old seat, wrote Thomas Grant of the University of Cambridge.īut such a move could prompt legal and political blowback. Ukraine, for instance, could take Russia’s old seat, warmed by the Soviet Union. There is a debate about how readily Russia might be booted from the Security Council. “Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to close the U.N.? Do you think the time for international order is gone?” (Zelensky repeated his plea at the U.N. “Where is the security that the Security Council was supposed to guarantee?” Zelenskyy asked in an impassioned speech to the security council after visiting Bucha in April. Ukraine’s push to expel Russia from the security council dates back to before the invasion, but officials–all the way up to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky–have re-upped their concerns after Russian massacres, such as in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, fearing Russia could continue to obstruct efforts to condemn human rights abuses. Last month, before the General Assembly vote, Russia vetoed a draft Security Council resolution circulated by the United States and Albania that called Moscow’s illegal annexation of four Ukrainian territories as “a threat to international peace and security.” founding states that were also members of the Soviet Union, dating back to 1946, but as Belarus’s pro-Moscow government has “aided and assisted Russia in the war against Ukraine,” it should be deemed “unsuitable” for the seat, Cohen and Wilson wrote to Blinken.įor months, Ukrainian officials have also been urging for Russia to be expelled from the Security Council, fearing that it could use its veto power as one of the body’s five permanent members to escape condemnation for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Under the 1991 deal, Russia pledged to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbors. Only four countries-North Korea, Belarus, Syria, and Nicaragua-backed Russia, while 143 countries voted against it. General Assembly on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to condemn Russia’s attempts to annex Ukrainian territory as illegal in an action that underscored Moscow’s growing diplomatic isolation at the world body. ![]() member states about the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The push also comes as Russia has faced criticism in New York from U.N. Ukraine could and should be recognized to fill the USSR seat rather than Russia.” Rather, it was provided to Russia in a deal after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. “Russia is not a responsible international actor and is unbecoming of a seat on the UN Security Council. Steve Cohen and Joe Wilson, a co-chair and the ranking member on the Helsinki Commission, respectively, wrote to Blinken on Wednesday. “We urge you to initiate a process to replace Russia on the UN Security Council as the fifth permanent member,” Reps. That could force a vote for Russia’s ability to remain on the Security Council. Under the long-shot plan, Ukraine would issue credentials to a representative to claim the seat, allowing the United States or another nation to protest Russia’s standing as a Security Council member, which derives from a 1991 deal for Moscow to retain the Soviet Union’s permanent seat after the country collapsed. President Joe Biden has said flies in the face of the U.N. Secretary of State Antony Blinken obtained by Foreign Policy, the bipartisan Helsinki Commission urged the United States to initiate a protest of Russia’s standing as a permanent member of the Security Council based on the violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, which U.S. Security Council, after Russia hit civilian areas in Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities this week with missile strikes. government human rights and security watchdog is calling on the Biden administration to take immediate steps to remove Russia as a permanent member of the U.N.
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