As Ukraine marked the first anniversary of the mass killing of Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield has made the case that Russia “should not be” a permanent member of the UN Security Council in an interview with AFP.
“Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council. It shouldn’t be, because of what it is doing in Ukraine, but the [UN] charter does not allow for a change in its permanent membership,” Thomas-Greenfield said on Thursday from Costa Rica, where she was attending a democracy summit.
Russia is also set to assume the rotating presidency of the Security Council on Saturday for a month.
The U.S. ambassador said she expected Russia to behave “professionally” during its presidency but also expressed doubts, saying Washington thought Moscow would “seek opportunities to advance their disinformation campaign against Ukraine, the United States, and all of our allies.”
“At every opportunity, we will raise our concerns about Russia’s actions,” she added, reiterating Washington’s condemnation of Moscow’s “war crimes and human rights violations” in Ukraine.