Russia Takes Over Presidency of UN Security Council on April 1

Ukraine says presidency is 'absurd and destructive' amid Russia's war

Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia, permanent United Nations representative of the Russian Federation, speaks during a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine at U.N. headquarters in New York City on March 7, 2022. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The Russian Federation assumed presidency of the U.N. Security Council on April 1, as Moscow wages war on Kyiv, in a move that Ukraine’s president said showed the institution’s “total bankruptcy.”

Russia last held the post at the intergovernmental body, which is tasked with maintaining peace and combating acts of international aggression, in February 2022, when President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of neighboring Ukraine in violation of Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter.