On the 1st of April, Russia assumed the UN Security Council Presidency. Earlier, it seemed that after everything that Russia has done and is doing in Ukraine, we would be sure of not having to write this. However, since we must write about this, then this would be another case of showing the urgency behind reforming the global security system.
“As of 1 April, they’re taking the level of absurdity to a new level,” – Serhiy Kyslytsia, as cited by The Guardian. “The security council as it is designed is immobilised and incapable to address the issues of their primary responsibility, that is prevention of conflicts and then dealing with conflicts.”
On the 30th of March, during a discussion in the Chatham House, a British think tank, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba also said “Russia’s presidency begins on 1 April and, frankly speaking, you can not imagine a worse joke for April Fools Day”. “The country which systematically violates all fundamental rules of international security is presiding over a body whose only mission is to safeguard and protect international security” He also added: “Russian presidency in the UNSC is a stark reminder that something is wrong with the way international security architecture is functioning. A state that systemically ruins international peace and security will be presiding over the body tasked with maintaining them”.
According to the Minister, the best thing that can be done in this case is to use this month in order to direct attention to multilateral problems at hand as well as issues that Russia uses to its advantage. Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, Serhiy Kyslytsia pointed out that Ukraine will keep its distance from the UN security council in April, except for instances when the topics of Ukraine’s crucial interests and national security are addressed.
Rotations of national presidencies within the UN Security Council take place once a month. Besides the symbolic meaning of this process, the powers obtained by the presiding country are not negligible and they do give that country various institutional levers. Serhiy Kyslytsia has already addressed the nature of these levers in an article in The Time magazine, written along with Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at Yale University. In fact, the presiding country does this in all debates by applying the rules, controlling registration and scheduling as well as mandates for all debates, managing all resolution drafts etc.
Russia last held the presidency in February 2022 and subsequently proved its mastery in manipulating these tools. “Back then, Russia sought to exploit the Security Council to confuse and mislead the world of its real intentions, and Russia’s devious machinations were aimed at impeding international support for Ukraine both leading up to and immediately following the start of the invasion on February 24” write Kyslytsia and Sonnenfeld. Thus, a few weeks before the invasion, Russia abused its presidency to present its puppets at Security Council meetings and showcase them as “activists of Ukrainian civil society.” In particular, on February 17, 2022, the Kremlin showcased the infamous Tatyana Montyan, who said that Ukraine does not want to talk to the “republics”. “In the weeks before the invasion, Russia manipulated the rules of the U.N. to force unprecedented institutional condemnation of economic sanctions, which escaped notice in the west but which was happily spread far and wide by the Kremlin, especially to third world countries. Russia was apparently thinking two steps ahead – when the invasion broke out in late February, Russian propagandists were quick to build on these discussions as a cudgel to erode the legitimacy of the western coalition in the eyes of developing nations” added Serhii Kislytsia and Geoffrey Sonnenfeld in the Time magazine.
As a result, it is clear that Russia will take this opportunity to cause provocation that would impact the information space of the Global South, which is (to this day) declaring itself neutral in the Russo-Ukrainian war. One can only hope that the “month of absurdity” will bring a serious shift in the global security system.
