Russia to assume Security Council presidency next month and Kiev considers it a "bad joke"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will chair a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York next month as Russia holds the rotating presidency of the UN executive body, an event Ukraine has called a "bad joke."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that "another major event of the Russian presidency will be a high-level public debate of the Security Council."

"This meeting will be chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov" and will discuss "effective multilateralism by defending the principles of the UN Charter," she said.

Lavrov will also chair a panel discussion on the Middle East on April 25.

Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine called Russia's presidency of the Security Council next month a "bad joke".

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote in a tweet that "Russia is waging a colonial war and its president is a war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of kidnapping children."

Russia assumes the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council from Saturday, succeeding Mozambique.

Russia says it is facing at the United Nations the "collective West" that has excluded it from the international community since launching its offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.

Lavrov's last visit to the United Nations in New York dates back to last September, when he attended the General Assembly.