Interview by Simon Bourtembourg, edited by Gauthier Delomez with AFP
Russia succeeds Mozambique at the head of the presidency of the UN Security Council on April 1, in a context still marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to geopolitical scientist Pascal Boniface interviewed by Europe 1, this Russian presidency was inevitable and remains more symbolic than anything else.
“A slap in the face of the international community” for Ukraine and “April Fool’s Day” for Westerners: Russia took over the presidency of the UN Security Council on Saturday for the whole month of april. These criticisms from Kiev, however, did not prevent Moscow from ensuring that its delegation to the UN this month, to succeed Mozambique, would be well led by the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov. In any case, according to geopolitical scientist Pascal Boniface interviewed by Europe 1, this Russian presidency was inevitable and stronger in symbol than anything else.
“It’s really very symbolic, it doesn’t give Russia a lot of power,” said the founder and director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations, which supports the prerogatives given to the country led by Vladimir Putin: “Russia presides over the session, it is she who makes the floor turn, but that does not give her additional powers”.
“The United States presided over the war in Iraq”
“And nothing more normal”, he continues at the microphone of Europe 1. “The United States also chaired the Security Council when they were at war against Iraq”, he recalls, stressing “that once again, it is the settlement, with countries which do not agree within the Security Council”. “This rotating presidency is in the rules, and if someone had wanted to change them, China and Russia would have vetoed them”, points out the geopolitical scientist, who advances a “limit of the UN: the permanent members have a right of veto and you cannot change a regulation without their agreement”.