Russian Security Council seat is held illegally – Ukraine

Russia circumvented UN rules in the 1990s and illegally became a permanent member of the Security Council after the fall of the USSR, a senior Ukrainian diplomat has claimed.

In an interview with European Pravda on Tuesday, Sergey Kislitsa, Kiev’s permanent representative at the UN, said he believes Russia was improperly granted the Soviet Union’s place on the Security Council after the USSR’s dissolution in 1991, and expressed outrage that no other countries have contested that outcome.

“I haven’t seen a resolution that anyone in principle voted for Russia’s membership in the Security Council or in the General Assembly of the UN,” Kislitsa stated.

He went on to claim that Russia has illegally granted itself that title. “For 30 years now these people have been sitting in the hall with a card that says ‘Russia,’ presenting themselves as a member of the UN Security Council! And everyone around acts as if it’s normal,” he said.

The Security Council (UNSC), one of the six principal organs of the UN, was created after World War II and consists of fifteen members, five of which are permanent: the US, UK, France, China, and Russia. These are the great powers who were the victors in the Second World War, or their legally recognized successor states.

China was originally represented on the UNSC by the Nationalist-ruled Republic of China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), led by Mao Zedong, gained control of mainland China following WWII, and the UN recognized the CCP-headed People’s Republic as China’s rightful representative in 1971.

Until 1991, the fifth member of the UNSC was the Soviet Union. When it dissolved that year, the Russian Federation was recognized as its legal successor state and retained its permanent place on the Security Council.

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