Russia will preside over the U.N. Security Council for the month of April

Russia will preside over the U.N. Security Council during April 2023, the U.N. reports on Twitter.

The presidency of the Security Council rotates every month, and the rotation is determined by member states’ English names in alphabetical order. Mozambique presided before Russia, and Switzerland will follow.

The rotation of the post is typically not a significant event, since the presiding country has no special powers: its representative opens and leads meetings and signs adopted documents. The presiding country has no special influence over the Security Council, whose agenda is approved by members’ votes.

Russia’s turn in the rotation has attracted attention, however, because the country launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld published an article in Time Magazine, in which they call the event “a mockery of international diplomacy.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Russia’s Security Council presidency “a bad joke.”

The Guardian writes that U.S., U.K., France, and their allies on the council are likely to express their disagreement by reducing their participation in events held by Russia this month, but notes that there is no discussion of a boycott.