Ukraine initiates effort to expel Russia from UN Security Council

ISTANBUL (AA) – Ukraine issued an official statement on Monday announcing its initiative to deprive Russia of its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and to exclude it from the UN.

“Ukraine calls on the member states of the UN to resume the application of the UN Charter in the context 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,” a statement by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry read.

The statement said the issue of the status of Russia’s membership to the UN and its permanent membership to the UN Security Council remains “unsettled” from “the point of view of international law.”

“The Russian Federation took over 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 (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) Boris Yeltsin, addressed to the UN Secretary General, which was sent on Dec. 24, 31 years ago,” the statement further said.

The statement also referred to Article 4 of the UN Charter, which it said stipulates that “the admission of peace-loving states to membership in the UN is affected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council, and only in this way.”

Last Tuesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv is preparing to take official steps to prove that Russia’s presence in the UN Security Council is “illegal” and to have it removed from the body.

On Dec. 14, two US lawmakers introduced a resolution to oust Russia from the UN Security Council, saying Russia’s presence there “violates the purposes and principles of the United Nations.”​​​​​​​