Some in the West have spoken of an “April Fool’s joke”. But the move was predicted. Officially, today, Saturday, April 1, 2023, Russia took over for this month the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UN), with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to denounce the “bankruptcy” of the United Nations.

“It is difficult to imagine anything that proves (further) the absolute bankruptcy of such institutions,” Zelensky said in his evening televised message.

“There is no form of terrorism that does not has already been practiced by Russia,” he continued, calling for a “reform of global institutions, including the UN Security Council.”

This “reform, which is apparently long overdue, is intended to prevent a terrorist state (…) from destroying the world. Terrorists must be defeated, they must be held accountable for a regime of terror and not preside over anywhere,” insisted Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba earlier today called the Russian presidency of the SA a “slap in the face” to the “international community”, with Westerners calling it an “April Fool’s joke”.

“Current members” of the UN’s executive body must “prevent any attempt” by Russia to “abuse its presidency”, stressed Kuleba, who already on Thursday had spoken of a “bad taste joke”, referring to his assumption of the presidency Hello from Russia.

“Russia has usurped its headquarters, is waging a colonialist war, its president is a war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court for child abduction,” he added.

SA meetings chaired by Lavrov

Those criticisms of Kiev have not stopped Moscow from ensuring that its delegation to the United Nations this month, to succeed Mozambique’s presidency, will be led by the head of Russian diplomacy, Mr. Sergey Lavrov.

“Another important event of the Russian presidency will be the high-level open discussion in the (Security) Council on an ‘effective multilateral cooperation through the defense of the principles of the United Nations Charter.'” Such a meeting will be chaired by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Thursday.

He added that Lavrov also plans to chair a meeting scheduled for April 25 on the Middle East.

“Elaborate”

Supporters of the Kiev government, mainly the US, immediately reacted to Moscow’s announcements.

“We expect Russia to continue to use its presidency to spread disinformation and try to divert attention from its efforts to justify its actions in Ukraine and the war crimes committed by members of its armed forces,” he said on Thursday. White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre.

“A country that blatantly violates the UN Charter and invades its neighbor has no seat on the Security Council”he stated.

The Baltic countries, hostile to Moscow, spoke today of a “New Year’s joke”.

“April Fool’s Day is a perfect day” for Russia, quipped the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry. “Russia, which is waging a brutal war in Ukraine, cannot but lead the Security Council.”

For its part, the Estonian diplomatic mission to the UN considered it “shameful and humiliating” that the Security Council will be chaired by Russia, whose president Vladimir Putin is a “war criminal, against whom an arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court”.

“No substance” presidency

At the United Nations, Russia says it stands against “the West as a whole” as many Western countries have imposed unprecedented sanctions against Moscow since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The first SA meeting under the current Russian presidency will take place on Monday morning, but it will be a regular closed-door session on the month’s agenda.

It will be followed, as planned, by a press conference of the new president of the SA, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia.

It is “a rotating presidency. It takes place every month, it is a short-term presidency and it is a presidency without substance, like the presidency of the G20, the G7 or the European Union where the rotating presidency lasts six months or a year and where each country sets its own agenda “, a diplomat told the United Nations Security Council.

“In case of abuse of the presidency, we will react, of course. That is not the issue. The important thing is the war in Ukraine and to make sure that it ends,” he added.

The Russian presidency of the United Nations comes a week after Putin announced his intention to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, fueling Western fears.