"No one will listen": how in Russia responded to the call of Ukraine to cancel the veto in the UN Security Council

The international community will not react in any way to the statements of Vladimir Yelchenko, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, about the need to reform the Security Council of the organization and deprive its members of the right of veto. So says Sergei Tsekov, a member of the Federation Council’s international affairs committee.

“Ukraine needs to somehow define its significance, therefore such statements are made. Even before that, they made various proposals for reforming the United Nations, mainly related to the work of the Security Council. Of course, no one listens to this, ”said Tsekov in an interview with RT.

According to him, it was “the existing structure that determined the stability of the organization” all the years of its existence.

“To change something now means to bring confusion, to come to disagreements and additional difficulties. The states that are members of the Security Council will not dare. So Ukraine just made a statement for the sake of a statement, ”the senator stressed.

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Viktor Vodolatsky adheres to a similar point of view. According to him, such statements are only part of the already familiar anti-Russian rhetoric, but only a few states can support such an initiative.

“The Ukrainian regime clearly and systematically fulfills the instructions of the State Department in terms of discrediting Russia. Naturally, this statement is one of many that will be heard in the last days of Poroshenko and his government at various international venues. Not a single large state will go to Kiev’s proposal, ”the deputy stressed. - It is clear that some Baltic countries will still support him, taking into account the anti-Russian rhetoric. But in all these specified scenarios, one thing is clear: like many other statements, this will not have any specifics and will present Ukraine controlled from the outside, ”he noted.

It should be noted that on Saturday, January 12, an article by the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, Vladimir Yelchenko, was published on the website of the Ukrainian publication Mirror of the Week, in which he raised the issue of depriving members of the Security Council of the veto. According to the diplomat, the Russian side allegedly abuses the right to block those or resolutions.

“Our state also consistently supports the phased abolition of the right of veto, especially acutely in the conditions of aggression against Ukraine by Russia as one of the permanent members of the Security Council,” said Yelchenko.

We emphasize that Ukraine has been trying to promote ideas about the need to reform the UN Security Council for almost a year, in particular, these proposals concern the procedure for applying the veto. As suggested by the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Pavel Klimkin, Moscow allegedly fears losing such an opportunity.

“The UN requires immediate reform. It is necessary to deprive the veto country of the aggressor, ”exclaimed Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko in April 2018.

In November, at a meeting of the UN General Assembly, a representative of the Ukrainian delegation once again pointed out the importance of revising the current document blocking system for Kiev.

The long-term issue of reforming the UN Security Council

According to Rostislav Ishchenko, president of the Center for System Analysis and Forecasting, one should not expect that other countries - members of the Security Council will listen to the position of Ukraine.

“Ukraine may or may not want to speak or not to speak. This is her personal right. Such respected countries as Japan, India, Germany, even twenty years ago were in favor of reforming the UN and the Security Council. But still everything is as before, ”he said.

Recall that the UN Security Council was formed in 1946. Its five permanent members have the right of veto (Russia, China, USA, United Kingdom and France).

“Until now, none of them has expressed a desire to part with this right. If at least one of these countries does not support the resolution, it does not pass. And changes to the UN Charter, and so on, are possible only by a decision of the Security Council, ”Ischenko explained.

To gallery page

At the same time, in 1993, a working group was set up to reform the existing body of the World Organization. One of the points was the question of the abolition of the veto. However, neither on this, nor on other topics of the agenda countries - UN members could not agree.

Also note that Moscow is in favor of a structural renewal of the composition of the UN Security Council. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted, the current composition of the body “does not reflect the real balance of forces prevailing in the world.” In this regard, the representative of the Russian permanent mission to the UN, Alexey Boguslavsky, pointed out that the number of non-permanent members of the UN Security Council should be replenished at the expense of "developing states of Asia, Africa and Latin America."