Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, called ridiculous calls by a number of countries to deprive Russia of the status of chairman of the organization's Security Council.
"We succeeded in everything we had planned. Everything went normally, all the planned activities of the month were completed ... The main thing is that the presidency passed without incident, despite the ridiculous attempts of some countries to accuse us of abusing the presidency, that our presidency should be transferred to someone else, because, they say, Russia is not worthy to chair the Security Council. This is contrary to all conceivable and inconceivable rules," Nebenzia said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
He recalled that no one questioned either the British or American presidency when a coalition of Western countries and their allies "carried out obvious aggression in Iraq."
At the same time, Nebenzia acknowledged that the atmosphere at the UN has changed in recent years. According to him, earlier "there was more multilateralism," since the process of agreeing on decisions "was of a collective nature." Now the UN has become a victim of a global crisis in international relations, the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation emphasized.
"There are attempts to blur the interstate foundations of the UN, because the UN is an interstate organization, not an NGO. Their opinion, of course, must be taken into account, not forgetting that decisions in the UN are made by states," Nebenzia added.
However, no matter how the situation in the world organization changes, this negotiating platform must be preserved, he is sure.
Vasily Nebenzia also commented on the possibility of moving the UN headquarters from New York, since this issue has already been raised by a number of states.
"Many countries (not even us) ... They demanded that the Americans fulfill their duties as the host country of the organization and talked about whether it was worth moving the organization to another place. Even some cities were named, such as Bonn, for example, which actively offered its services, Geneva and other points, "the permanent representative said.
According to him, Moscow believes that "elsewhere it would be better" to organize the headquarters of the world organization. However, the United States, which does not want to lose the opportunity to abuse its duties as a UN host country, "as well as a lot of money," will never agree to this, the diplomat stated.
"It is known that New York, according to the most conservative estimates, receives $ 5 billion a year from the fact that the headquarters is located here and from the fact that diplomats from 193 countries live here," Nebenzia stressed.
- Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya in the chair of the Chairman of the Security Council
- AP
- © John Minchillo
In addition, he recalled that the consent of at least two-thirds of the UN member states is required to resolve the issue of moving the headquarters, but "due to a number of circumstances, it is very difficult to achieve such a number of supporters of the transfer of the headquarters."
"The world will no longer be unipolar"
Recall that in April, Russia held the chairmanship of the UN Security Council. As the Russian Foreign Ministry stated at the time, being in this status, Moscow pursued the task of confirming the role of the Security Council as an effective tool for coordinating efforts "to find answers to threats to international peace and security."
"On April 30, the presidency of the Russian Federation in the UN Security Council ends. Despite the situation in the Security Council, which has become very tense due to the efforts of Western delegations, we managed to ensure the effective work of this most important body of the UN system," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry clarified that we are talking about an open debate on the topics of arms supplies, on the Middle East and the problem of effective multilateralism: the last two were chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
At the same time, this month the Russian side continued to raise issues related to the UN structure. So, on May 4, during his speech at a meeting of the Security Council, Nebenzia called the organization a "stronghold of multilateralism", despite the "dominance of the West in its structures" and desperate attempts by Western countries to impose a "Russophobic agenda" on all member states. According to him, the UN is still a "sought-after platform" for dialogue and international cooperation. At the same time, the diplomat also drew attention to the fact that the unipolar paradigm of the world has come to an end.
"The world will no longer be unipolar, and Western dominance, or 'American-style peace,' is on the wane," he stressed.
In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an article for the magazine "Russia in Global Affairs", published on May 5, noted that now the "UN-centric system" is experiencing a deep crisis.
"The root cause was the desire of individual members of the organization to replace international law and the UN Charter with a kind of "rules-based order" ... Its authors arrogantly reject the key principle of the UN Charter - the sovereign equality of states," Lavrov explained.
To establish "true multilateralism" at the current stage, it is necessary to accelerate the reform of the Security Council of the world organization by including the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, the minister said.
"It is our common duty to preserve the UN as a hard-won example of multilateralism and coordination of world politics. The key to success is to work together, to abandon claims to exclusivity and respect for the sovereign equality of states. This is what we all subscribed to, ratifying the UN Charter," Lavrov said.
"The UN without Russia is a utopia"
Assessing the results of Russia's presidency of the UN Security Council, experts in an interview with RT called them "extremely positive." Analysts recalled that under the leadership of Russia, an effective debate was held, including on violations of the proliferation of military products and the situation in the Middle East.
"The Russian side managed to convey to the world community its position on these issues, despite the fact that Western countries promoted the narrative regarding the exclusion of the Russian Federation from the permanent members of the UN Security Council. Moreover, it was the Ukrainian delegation that extremely actively insisted on this. The United States also says that it would be nice to exclude Russia, but they immediately note that it is legally impossible to do this within the framework of the existing legal framework that underlies the UN, "said Yevgeny Semibratov, deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, in a commentary to RT.
- United Nations Headquarters
- Gettyimages.ru
- © Doug Armand
The efforts of Western countries trying to isolate the Russian Federation within its powers as chairman of the Security Council were in vain, the expert is sure.
"Russia is aware that the functionality that the organization has, and the form of the device, are outdated, they need to be reformed. However, what is now in the UN structure is, of course, better than the absence of such mechanisms. Given the acute international situation, the Russian delegation did not put forward any tough and provocative proposals, acting exclusively within the existing legal framework. And when the West tries to stop this or that Russian initiative in this light, these attempts look frankly propagandistic, "says Semibratov.
From his point of view, this is obvious not only for Russia, but also for other countries, including the states of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
"Thus, trying to discredit Russia at the UN and pedaling this topic, the West actually remains in the minority, and it understands this very well. The UN without Russia is a utopia. But still, within the framework of this structure, political pressure will be exerted on the Russian Federation, "Semibratov said.
A similar opinion is shared by Vadim Kozyulin, head of the Center for Global Studies and International Relations of the IAMP of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry. According to him, expressing their desire to deprive Russia of the status of representation in the UN Security Council, Western countries are waging a "campaign to discredit" the Russian Federation.
"Many Western states that support such ideas actually understand that it will not be possible to deprive the Russian Federation of this status. But their task is to criticize Russia, to draw attention to this topic, because it is technically impossible to boycott or expel the Russian Federation from the UN. Moscow's chairmanship of the Security Council demonstrated its significant weight in the world, "the expert said in an interview with RT.
At the same time, Kozyulin considers the discussions on the transfer of the organization's headquarters from New York to be not unfounded.
"For an international structure of this level, it is preferable that the headquarters be located in some neutral country that does not adhere to bloc, that is, it pursues approximately the same course in relation to other states. The United States, on the other hand, is obviously abusing the status of the country where the headquarters is located. And the West as a whole undermines the foundations of the UN by trying to promote a "rules-based order" that it itself creates, "the analyst is sure.
However, experts agree that, despite all these attempts by Washington and its allies to reduce the effectiveness of the UN as a multilateral platform, it is now extremely necessary, since against the backdrop of a global crisis situation, countries need to conduct a multilateral dialogue.
"There is no alternative to the UN, and it is unlikely that it will appear in the foreseeable future. To undermine this mechanism is the same as to destroy security as such on a global scale," Kozyulin concluded.