New Delhi: A resolution calling to kick Russia off the U.N. Security Council for its invasion of Ukraine — which has virtually no chance of being enforced — is circulating among US Congress members from both parties, Axios reported.
The development comes as a recessed Congress tries to assert its role in punishing Russia. Driving the news: The resolution is being led by Rep. Claudia Tenney, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in coordination with a House Democrat, according to Tenney’s office.
“It’s obviously a tall effort to kick Russia off,” Nick Stewart, Tenney’s chief of staff, told Axios. “But, it’s one diplomatic tool we have to up the pressure and increase the isolation.”
“It’s in a sense a messaging bill, but it also empowers our diplomatic counterparts.”
The resolution, Axios reported calls for the U.N. to “take immediate procedural actions” to amend Article 23 of its charter to remove Russia as a permanent member of the Security Council.
The resolution argues that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “poses a direct threat to international peace and security” and “run contrary to its responsibilities and obligations as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.”
According to the U.N. charter, all permanent members of the Security Council have to sign off on any amendments, giving Russia the ability to block such a move, Axios reported.
Russia’s veto on the Security Council also would allow it to block any U.N. effort to condemn or intervene in its invasion of Ukraine.
Causing further headaches to the West is that Russia’s ambassador to the U.N., Vasily Nabenzya, is serving as the panel’s rotating president this month.
He was presiding over an emergency meeting of the council at the precise moment Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his invasion of Ukraine – triggering criticism of Russia’s membership on the panel, Axios reported.
(IANS)
