Diplomatic pressure is intensifying. The United States announced in a statement on Thursday that it had requested an open meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday on the crisis around Ukraine because of the threat posed by Russia to international security and peace.
“More than 100,000 Russian troops are deployed on the Ukrainian border and Russia is engaging in other acts of destabilization targeting Ukraine, which constitutes a clear threat to international peace and security and the Charter of the United Nations”, said US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
“As we continue our relentless pursuit of diplomacy to defuse tensions in the face of this serious threat to European and global peace and security (…) the members of the Security Council must candidly examine the facts”, justified the diplomat in his statement. They must “consider what is at stake for Ukraine, for Russia, for Europe and for the fundamental obligations and principles of the international order if Russia invades Ukraine further”, she said. , implicitly alluding to the Crimea annexed in 2014 by Russia.
Macron-Putin telephone interview on Friday
Originally, the United States had hoped to be able to hold this meeting of the Security Council on Friday, according to diplomats. But, according to these sources, they agreed to postpone it to Monday so as not to interfere with a telephone meeting scheduled for Friday between the French and Russian presidents, Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine.
Monday will be the last day of Norway’s presidency of the Council, which will hand over to Russia on Tuesday for February. Asking for a meeting next month would have been more complicated for the United States with Russia in control of the Council’s agenda, notes a diplomat.
In mid-January, the United States hinted that they only intended to seize the Security Council after a possible military intervention in Ukraine, as had been the case for Crimea.
Russian right of veto
According to a diplomatic source, they changed their mind “to better prepare” for such an eventuality. “When a military intervention occurs, it happens quickly”, explains this source on condition of anonymity. A Council meeting, “it’s obviously a bit of theater,” she admitted, however.
“Now is not the time to wait and see. The Council’s full attention is required now, ”said Linda Thomas-Greenfield in her press release on Thursday. In a recent interview with Romanian public television, she stressed that a seizure by the Council would make it possible to isolate Russia. “Even if she has a right of veto, her isolation will be felt” in the face of a “united front”, she said.
“When we are united against the Russians, the veto power is weakened,” she said, citing Crimea. “We got 13 votes in favor of action against the Russians, one abstention and one no – it was Russia’s veto. They were completely and utterly isolated, and we hope that will be the case as well” this time, she added.