Ukraine's foreign minister says Russia UN Security Council presidency a 'slap in the face'

The United States has also criticised Russia’s role and its permanent seat on the Security Council.

RUSSIA’S PRESIDENCY OF the UN Security Council for the month of April is “a slap in the face to the international community”, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.

“I urge the current UNSC members to thwart any Russian attempts to abuse its presidency,” Kuleba said at the start of Russia’s tenure of the body’s rotating presidency.

In a statement on Twitter, Kuleba called Russia “an outlaw on the UNSC”.

Later this month, Moscow has said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is planning to chair a UN Security Council meeting on “effective multilateralism”.

Russian UNSC presidency is a slap in the face to the international community. I urge the current UNSC members to thwart any Russian attempts to abuse its presidency. I also remind that Russia is an outlaw on the UNSC: https://t.co/rZVC1pV0MY #BadRussianJoke #InsecurityCouncil
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 1, 2023

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has also said that Lavrov will lead a debate on the Middle East on 25 April.

The United States has criticised Russia’s role and its permanent seat on the Security Council.

“A country that flagrantly violates the UN Charter and invades its neighbour has no place on the UN Security Council,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier.

“Unfortunately Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and no feasible international legal pathway exists to change that reality,” she added, calling the presidency “a largely ceremonial position.”

Kuleba had earlier called Russia’s Security Council presidency “a bad joke”.

The presidency rotates every month between the 15 member states, and Moscow last chaired the council in February 2022.

Russia would hold little influence on decisions but would be in charge of the agenda.

$15 billion loan package

Elsewhere, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $15.6 billion (€14.3 billion) support package for Ukraine to assist with the conflict-hit country’s economic recovery, the fund said in a statement Friday.

Russia’s invasion has devastated Ukraine’s economy, causing activity to contract by around 30% last year, destroying much of its capital stock and spreading poverty, according to the IMF.

The outbreak of war has rippled through the global economy, fueling global inflation through rising wheat and oil prices.

The invasion has also highlighted Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas for its energy security. Many countries were forced to seek out alternative sources of energy after the war began.

The two-step program will look to stabilize the country’s economic situation while the war continues, before turning to “more ambitious structural reforms” after the end of hostilities, IMF deputy managing director Gita Gopinath said in a statement.

The 48-month Extended Fund Facility approved by the fund’s board is worth roughly $15.6 billion.

It forms the IMF’s portion of a $115 billion overall support package comprised of debt relief, grants and loans by multilateral and bilateral institutions, the IMF’s Ukraine mission chief Gavin Gray told reporters on Friday.

“The goal of Ukraine’s new IMF-supported program is to provide an anchor for economic policies – policies that will sustain macro economic financial stability and support economic and economic recovery,” he said.

Of the total amount approved by the IMF, $2.7 billion is being made available to Ukraine immediately, with the rest of the funds due to be released over the next four years.

The program also includes additional guarantees from some IMF members in the event that active combat continues beyond its current estimate of mid-2024.

If the conflict were to extend into 2025, it would raise Ukraine’s financial needs from $115 billion to around $140 billion, Gray said.

“This program has been designed in such a way that it would work even if economic circumstances are considerably worse than than the current baseline,” he said.

Armoured vehicles

Ukraine today ordered 100 Rosomak multi-purpose armoured vehicles, which are made in Poland under a Finnish license, Poland’s prime minister has said.

“I bring an order placed yesterday by (Ukrainian) Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal for 100 Rosomaks that will be fabricated here,” Mateusz Morawiecki said during a visit to the Rosomak manufacturing site in the southern Polish town of Siemianowice Slaskie.

The order will be financed through funds that Poland has received from the European Union and US funds that Ukraine has received, he said, without providing details or the overall cost of the contract.

The United States and its allies have provided Ukraine with a host of funding and weapons after Russia invaded its pro-Western ex-Soviet neighbour in February 2022.

The Rosomak is an 8×8 multi-purpose armoured vehicle manufactured under the license from Finland’s Patria.

© AFP 2023