Ukraine called on UN member states on Monday to take official steps to prove that Russia's presence on UN Security Council is "illegal" and deprive Russia of its status as a permanent member of the Security Council.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reminds in its official statement that the issue of the status of a UN member state and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which the Russian Federation enjoys, remains unsettled.

"Russia falsely considers the issue settled, referring to the fact that since December 24, 1991, and publicly – since December 31, 1991, a country name plate for the Russian Federation appeared in the UN Security Council. In fact, according to the UN Charter, there has never been legitimate grounds for this," the statement underlines.

In particular, Ukraine MFA draws attention to the fact that the UN Charter does not contain the words "Russian Federation." The country did not complete the procedures for acquiring membership as, for example, the Czech Republic and Slovakia did after Czechoslovakia had collapsed.

"Therefore, the Russian Federation has never gone through the legal procedure to be admitted to membership and therefore illegally occupies the seat of the USSR in the UN Security Council. From a legal and political point of view, there can be only one conclusion: Russia is an usurper of the Soviet Union's seat in the UN Security Council," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes.

The statement indicates the opinion of the Legal Adviser of the UN Secretariat regarding legal grounds for Russia's presence in the UN also does not replace the current UN Charter. It also could not serve the basis for tacit consent to admit Russia as a member, neither for the UN Secretariat, nor for the UN member states, including the members of the Security Council.

"In fact, it was an unprecedented case in the history of the UN, when a country imposed its membership in the Organization by a unilateral decision, and UN member states were deprived of the statutory right to express themselves by voting in the General Assembly regarding the RSFSR's intention to be admitted to membership in a way not prescribed by the Charter," the Ministry's statement reads.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reminds that the actions of Russia are contrary to the concept of a "peace-loving" state. Three decades of its illegal presence in the UN have been marked by wars and seizure of other countries' territories, forceful change of internationally recognized borders, and attempts to satisfy its invasive and neo-imperial ambitions.

"Ukraine initiates a complex process aimed at achieving the goals of this statement, and in this context is ready to cooperate with other countries to jointly protect the UN Charter and international law from the destructive influence of the Russian Federation," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs concludes.

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