Ukraine initiates process of excluding Russia from UN Security Council and UN as whole

This is noted in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's statement. 

Diplomats say that given Russia's full-scale invasion and Moscow's aggressive policy, it is only a matter of time before Russia's actions discredit and destroy the entire UN system. That is why the issue of Russia's fate in the UN should be resolved in the general context of its responsibility for gross violations of norms and principles of international law. And also for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine.

“Ukraine calls on the UN member states to resume the application of the UN Charter in the issue of the legitimacy of the Russian Federation's presence in the UN, to deprive the Russian Federation of its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and to exclude it from the UN as a whole,” the statement says. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that the Soviet Union's collapse in December 1991 left unresolved the issue of international rights and obligations of the USSR.

“From the point of view of international law, the issue of the status of a UN member state and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which is enjoyed by the Russian Federation, remains unsettled,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted.

Ukrainian diplomats emphasize that Russia falsely considers the issue settled, referring to the fact that since December 24, 1991, and in the public sphere - since December 31, 1991, its name plate appeared in the UN Security Council.

“Actually, according to the UN Charter, there were and still are no legitimate grounds for this. The Russian Federation took the seat of a permanent member of the UN Security Council bypassing the procedures defined by the UN Charter. This happened on the basis of an ordinary letter from the President of the RSFSR, Boris Yeltsin, addressed to the UN Secretary General, which was sent on December 24, 31 years ago,” Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded.

Ukraine’s diplomats emphasized that the legitimate procedure for Russia's acquisition of UN membership and a place among the permanent members of the Security Council had to include the steps defined by the UN Charter.

“In December 1991, the Russian Federation's appeal regarding the intention to extend the membership of the USSR in the UN had to be properly considered by the Security Council and the General Assembly in accordance with Article 4 of the UN Charter. It provides that the membership of peace-loving states in the UN is acquired precisely on the recommendation of the UN Security Council and  by decision of the General Assembly, and only in this way…Thus, the Russian Federation has never gone through the legal procedure for acquiring membership and occupies the place of the USSR in the UN Security Council illegally.  From a legal and political point of view, there can be only one conclusion: Russia is a usurper of the Soviet Union's place in the UN Security Council,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

As noted in the document, Ukrainian diplomats believe that, guided by the principle of equality of UN members, Russia should follow the same international legal path of acquiring membership in the Organization as other countries.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that the Russian Federation's expulsion from the UN Security Council will not cause the annulment or revision of its resolutions. According to the Ukrainian side, Moscow illegally occupies a place in the organization, since its legitimacy as the successor of the USSR raises questions. Therefore, it must go through the international legal path of joining the UN, like other countries. In particular, to prove one's peace-loving nature, the requirement of which is contained in Clause 1 of Art. 4 of the UN Charter.

In this regard, Ukraine initiates a comprehensive process aimed at excluding the aggressor country from the UN and the Security Council.

In turn, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba emphasized on his Facebook page that Ukraine will no longer remain silent.

“Today we started the fight to deprive Russia of the status of a permanent member of the UN Security Council. This fight will not be easy. It will be opposed, and not only by Russia. But we will not put up with lies and falsification. The tasks may be difficult, but nothing is impossible for us,” the minister wrote.

• Earlier, the US submitted a resolution to Congress proposing to exclude Russia from the UN Security Council.