EXPLAINED: The ‘Cynical’ Hypocrisy of Russia’s UN Security Council Meeting

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov faced an onslaught of criticism from Ukraine’s allies after chairing a UNSCmeeting on protecting the organization’s charter.

What does the UN charter say about the illegal invasion of a neighboring country?

It will come as little surprise to learn it says such things and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is one of the biggest breaches of the charter in modern times.

On the first anniversary of the war in February, the UN General Assembly voted by an overwhelming majority to repeat its demand for the “immediate” withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

Why is Russia chairing UN Security Council meetings then?

Due to the arguably outdated way the UNSC is organized, Russia holds the rotating presidency of the group, which also includes the other 4 permanent members – the US, UK, China, and France – as well as 10 non-permanent members.

It assumed the presidency on April 1 of this year in what Kyiv described as an “an April Fool’s Day joke on the world”.

Russia arranged the meeting on Monday as one of the “signature” events of its tenure. In a note to member states laying out the premise for the meeting, Russia denounced the “unipolar world order” that took effect after the end of the Cold War.

It said that “presented a serious challenge to the efficiency and stability of the United Nations system.”

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“Today the world is facing another deep-reaching systemic transformation. Namely, natural and rapid decline of unipolar world order and the emergence of a new multipolar system,” the note said.

Before the meeting, Lavrov claimed the UN system was “enduring a profound crisis,” and accused Western countries, particularly the US, of being responsible. “It’s not all about Ukraine,” he told reporters.

“It’s about how international relations will continue to be shaped through the establishment of a sound consensus on the basis of balance of interests or through aggressive and volatile advancement of Washington’s hegemony,” Lavrov added.

What was the reaction?

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the “devastation” caused by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, saying in front of Lavrov that the Russian invasion was a violation of international law and is “causing massive suffering” to the Ukrainian people.

He added it was “adding to the global economic dislocation triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“The multilateral system is under greater strain than at any time since the creation of the United Nations,” said Guterres, adding the world faces “unprecedented and interlocking crises.”

“Tensions between major powers are at an historic high. So are the risks of conflict, through misadventure or miscalculation,” added the UN chief, sitting next to Lavrov.

And Guterres wasn’t the only person with some strong words to say.

Ukraine

Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak on Tuesday dismissed as "hypocrisy" comments made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN about protecting the United Nations charter.

"An impeccable hypocrisy fair, Lavrov chairs the UNSC justifying war, mass killings, total destruction... with 'international law'," Podolyak said on Twitter.

The EU

“By organizing this debate Russia is trying to portray itself as a defender of the UN charter and multilateralism. Nothing can be further from the truth. It's cynical,” said EU ambassador Olof Skoog.

“If Russia cares about effective multilateralism, that is the first way to prove it,” he added.

The US

Washington’s UN ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, clutched the world body’s charter in her hand and stressed the importance of defending its values, AFP reports.

“Our hypocritical convenor today, Russia, invaded its neighbor in Ukraine and struck at the heart of the UN charter,” she told the meeting.

Facing Lavrov, Thomas-Greenfield made a direct plea to him to release detained US journalist Evan Gershkovich and detained former US Marine Paul Whelan.

“Using people as pawns is a strategy of weakness,” she said, urging Lavrov to look into the eyes of Whelan’s sister, who was in the gallery of the chamber, and “see her suffering.”