The meeting of the Security Council on Jan. 31 did not attract much media attention in Ukraine. However, it was quite a remarkable event, the importance of which is yet to be assessed.
The U.S., in coordination with the delegation of Ukraine and other partners, called the meeting to discuss the on-going situation on the latter’s border under the agenda item “Maintenance of international peace and security.”
Usually, this so-called “umbrella” item covers issues that may pose a threat to international peace and security. Country-related issues are traditionally considered under other agenda items.
The situation in Ukraine was previously considered under two obscure agenda items: “Letter dated 28 February 2014 from the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council” and “Letter dated 13 April 2014 from the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council.”
The Ukrainian letter requested the Security Council meeting “due to the deterioration of the situation in the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea, Ukraine, which threatens the territorial integrity of Ukraine.” Russia, in its letter, requested the Council “to consider the alarming developments in Ukraine.”
In 2014, the Council failed to agree on how to name the Ukraine-related item or combine the two letters under the same agenda. Thus, the matter has been considered under two separate agenda items, with and without reference to Crimea.
Much water has passed under the bridge since those letters were sent. Russia occupied Crimea and invaded the East of Ukraine, seizing part of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. As a result of this Russian aggression, about 15,000 people have been killed. Yet, the Security Council continues to meet on Ukraine under agenda items that do not typically reflect the actual situation on the ground.
The U.S. request to consider Russian actions at the Ukrainian border under the agenda item “Maintenance of international peace and security” changed that paradigm and brought the matter to the next level.
Discussions about Ukraine under this item indicate neither a bilateral issue nor an “internal Ukrainian matter,” as the Russians always try to present it. The Council sends a clear message that aggressive actions against Ukraine are threatening not only this country but to European security.
This also implies that the Council can consider any other provocative actions by Russia, such as at the Lithuanian, Polish or Estonian borders, cyber-attacks, or something else, at any time without introducing a new agenda item.
It is no wonder the Russian delegation protested against this agenda item and out of desperation requested the doomed procedural vote.
Russia unsuccessfully tried to convince Council members and the international community that it has no aggressive intentions. Of all Council members, probably only the Gabon representative, who evidently had little interest in events so far from Libreville, believed the assertion that Russia has not posed a threat to Ukraine.
Anyone who watches Russian TV can witness such threats on a daily basis. And those who recall how Russian artillery shelled Ukrainian military positions and civilian targets from its territory would never believe in Moscow’s fairytales about “peaceful” movement of troops, given their proximity to Ukraine’s borders.
The Russian Presidency of the Security Council for this month scheduled a meeting under agenda item “Letter dated 13 April 2014 from the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council.” The Russians already announced their intention to discuss on Feb. 17 the implementation of the Minsk agreements. Thus, the old “Ukrainian” and “Russian” items will remain on the Council agenda for a while yet.
However, the US initiative broke the cage of the Minsk agreements in which the issue of Russian aggression against Ukraine was locked since 2015 and put it on the Security Council agenda as an additional item.
Oleksandr Matsuka, Ukrainian diplomat and staff member of the UN Secretariat from 1989. In 1995-2003 was desk officer for the Balkans at the UN Department for Political Affairs and later team leader for Eastern Europe. In 2012-2016 was Chief of the UN Security Council Secretariat. Retired.
