Ukraine has developed a plan that could call Russia's UN membership into question – Foreign Policy

Ukrainian experts have drafted an initiative aimed at reviewing the legality of Russia’s membership in the United Nations and its status as a permanent member of the Security Council, according to Foreign Policy.

The plan is based on the argument that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia should have gone through a full accession process to the UN rather than automatically taking the Soviet Union’s seat.

 

Volodymyr Yelchenko, a former permanent representative of Ukraine to the UN and an expert at the Pylyp Orlyk Foundation, participated in developing the plan. He believes that recognizing Russia as the successor state to the USSR within the organization was a mistake.

“This is the biggest scam of the century: the Russian Federation never signed the UN Charter,” Yelchenko stated.

As the publication explains, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, its former republics became independent states. The Ukrainian side insists that, in this case, Russia should have gone through the procedure for admission to the UN in accordance with Article 4 of the organization’s Charter. Instead, Moscow limited itself to a letter notifying the UN of the continuation of the USSR’s membership under the name of the Russian Federation.

By comparison, Bosnia and Herzegovina went through the official procedure for joining the UN in 1992 following the breakup of Yugoslavia.

According to journalists, Ukrainian experts plan to push for the issue of Russia’s status to be added to the official agenda of the UN General Assembly. This could happen as early as next year.

The initiators also want to have the issue referred to the UN Credentials Committee for consideration. The committee consists of nine states, including Russia, China, and the United States.

Ukraine hopes that a public discussion will compel the international community to address the question of whether Russia would meet the requirements for UN membership if it were to apply today.

At the same time, the publication emphasizes that the practical chances of expelling Russia or stripping it of its seat on the Security Council are extremely low. Even if the initiators manage to secure a debate in the General Assembly, further steps could be blocked by political and legal obstacles.

One of the main obstacles is that the international community has long recognized Russia as the successor state to the USSR. At the time, Ukraine also agreed to this status, particularly in the context of agreements regarding Russia’s assumption of the Soviet national debt.

In addition, some diplomats fear that an attempt to challenge Russia’s membership could create additional difficulties in Ukraine’s relations with its allies. If the initiative suffers a public failure, Kyiv risks squandering the political capital needed to advance other issues.

Volodymyr Yelchenko emphasizes that Russia uses the organization not only to block decisions but also to spread its own propaganda.

Source: Foreign Policy

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