UNSC PRESIDENCY – Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, on Saturday posted a message on Twitter describing Russia taking over the presidency of the UN Security Council as “a symbolic blow to the rules-based system of international relations”. The presidency of the Council is held by each of the members in turn for one month, following the English alphabetical order of the Member States names. In April, the Russian delegation will take charge of managing the Council’s agenda and presiding its meetings. One of the main benefits is that the presidency can hold special sessions focusing on topics it deems of special interest, often in the presence of certain government members. The last time Moscow held this position was in February 2022, when its troops launched the large-scale war of aggression in Ukraine. On Friday, the Kremlin announced it intends to make full use of every prerogatives conveyed by the UN Security Council presidency. Seeing Russia at the helm of the most important UN body is a “bad joke”, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has commented.
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