Russia took over the United Nations Security Council on Saturday in what Ukraine’s Foreign Minister dubbed “the world’s worst April Fool’s joke.”
While Moscow’s brutal war in Ukraine rages on, Russia took the helm of the council — which has a month-long presidency that rotates among its 15 member countries — as the new month began.
Ukraine’s top foreign diplomat was outraged by the fact that the country run by Vladimir Putin, an accused war criminal, will be leading the council whose primary responsibility is maintaining international peace.
“The country which systematically violates all fundamental rules of international security is presiding over a body whose only mission is to safeguard and protect international security,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, calling the change in leadership “the world’s worst April Fool’s joke.”
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak also condemned Russia’s assumption of the council presidency, calling it “another rape of international law.”
“An entity that wages an aggressive war, violates the norms of humanitarian and criminal law, destroys the UN Charter, neglects nuclear safety, can’t head the world’s key security body,” Podolyak said.
The last time Russia headed the council was in February 2022, the month when it invaded Ukraine.
Read More: Russia leads UN Security Council in ‘worst April Fool’s joke,’ Ukraine says
