Ukraine seeks to strip Russia of UN veto power
The Ukrainian government is embarking on an effort to take away from Russia its veto power at the UN Security Council, amid the crisis in eastern Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a recommendation for the 15-member Security Council to strip Russia of its right to block UN resolutions in cases when “conflicts grow especially fierce.”
The move comes as Ukraine claims Moscow has a hand in a 17-month conflict in eastern Ukraine that erupted in April 2014, an accusation that Kremlin categorically dismisses.
Donetsk and Lugansk are two mainly Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine, where deadly clashes have continued between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in April last year to crush pro-Russia protests there.
Ukraine is furious at Russia’s move to stop UN attempts to slam what Kiev describes as Russia's "aggression" in the eastern regions.
The US, Britain and France, which are three of the veto-wielding members of the Security Council, have not expressed open support for such a measure against Russia so far, despite their backing for the pro-Western government in Kiev.
However, Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Yuriy Sergeyev said in a message posted on Twitter that 67 of the UN General Assembly's 193 members have already lent support to the move. Kiev is planning to put forward its recommendation when the Assembly meets in the coming weeks.
Russia, meanwhile, has rejected Kiev’s proposal and denounced its effort to expand veto rights to the other 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council.
"We stand in favor of preserving (veto) rights for the five permanent Security Council members," Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti state news agency. He also called "premature" the idea of giving the other 10 Council members the right to block resolutions.
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