Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia, is the President of the United Nations Security Council for month of February 2022. (UN Photo/Manuel Elías)
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – RUSSIA officially took over as President of the UN Security Council this week for the month of February with a focus on consequences of international sanctions and the situation with Ukraine. The President of the Security Council for February and Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia briefed reporters Tuesday at UN headquarters in New York on the Council’s programme of work for the month of February. RUSSIA follows NORWAY which held the rotating presidency the month of January 2022. The UN Security Council comprises 15 member states, including five permanent members – the United Kingdom, China, Russia, the United States and France. Ambassador Nebenzia said Russia is expected to organise two signature events. The first event is a debate on sanctions with a particular focus on preventing their humanitarian and unintended consequences.
The second is a debate on the relationship between the UN and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Aside from these two signature events, Russia intends to convene a briefing based on its 13 April 2014 letter (S/2014/264) to discuss the implementation of the Minsk Agreement in relation to the situation in Ukraine.
RUSSIA Ambassador Accuses Ukraine of Failing to Implement Minsk Agreement
The Minsk Protocol is an agreement which sought to end war in the Donbas region of Ukraine. It was written in 2014 by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, consisting of Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), with mediation by the leaders of France and Germany in the so-called Normandy Format. The agreement, which followed multiple previous attempts to stop the fighting in the Donbas, aimed to implement an immediate ceasefire. The Security Council debate on Minsk is to be held February 17.
“February 17 will mark exactly seven years since the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 2202 endorsing the package of measures for adoption of the Minsk Agreements on Ukraine. Unfortunately, despite statements by Ukrainian authorities that they adhere to the settlement, basically not a single move was made by Kiev to meet its obligations under the Minsk Agreements. So we most probably will discuss not implementation of the Mink Agreements but rather their non-implementation. We think this matter should be brought to the attention of the international community.”
-Russia Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia
Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of February, briefs reporters on the programme of work for the month of the Security Council at UN headquarters in New York Feb. 1, 2022. (UN Photo /Evan Schneider)
European Security Is Not Linked to Ukraine: Russian Ambassador
Ambassador Nebenzia took issue with what he said is an effort by the U.S. and NATO to link European security to the situation in Ukraine.
“I think it is wrong to link our proposals on security guarantees and the security architecture that we made to the US and NATO and discussed with them already (both with the US and NATO, and also the OSCE), with the situation in Ukraine as it is being presented by some of our Western partners. The European security does not boil down to the situation in Ukraine. It’s a broader issue. And we see attempts to link these two things and to present it in a way as if this is a price that we are asking for the European security. These are separate issues. Of course, Ukraine is part of Europe, and part of the European security. But these things are not absolutely linked. These are stand alone issues. We have presented our proposals, even draft agreements–to the US and NATO–on what we would like to see as security guarantees for Russia.”
-Russia Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia
Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of February, briefs reporters on the programme of work for the month of the Security Council Feb. 1, 2022. (UN Photo /Evan Schneider)
The U.S. Is Escalating Tensions – Russia Ambassador
“I don’t know why the US is escalating tensions and at the same time accusing Russia of escalating tensions. This all is linked to alleged presence of Russian troops at the Russian-Ukrainian border. That is not true. Russian troops are not at the Russian-Ukrainian border. They are where they normally stay. Whether they are more than normal or less than normal or as they usually are, I have no idea. 100,000, 120,000 — I don’t know where these figures came from. Ukrainians are saying 136,000. We never announced how many troops there are. And I don’t know who was counting them. And you rightly said that they massively pump up Ukraine with armaments. It looks not only provocative, but dangerous as well.”
-Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia
UN Security Council Agenda For Month of February
During the month of February, The Security Council is scheduled to hold a briefing on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts based on the Secretary General’s report presented to the Council every six months on this issue. Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov and Acting Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) Weixiong Chen are the anticipated briefers.
African issues on the UN programme of work in February are:
• Somalia, meeting on the situation in Somalia
and the activities of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and briefing by
the chair of the 751 Somalia Sanctions Committee (Ireland);
• Central African Republic, meeting on the
UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic
(MINUSCA); and
• Sudan, renewal of the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the 1591 Sudan Sanctions
Committee.
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