Russia rotates into presidency of U.N. Security Council; Ukraine objects

April 1 (UPI) -- Russia took over the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council Saturday as Ukraine's foreign minister blasted the move as "a bad joke."

Russia's presidency is part of the standard rotation through the 15 Security Council member countries, but it was met with scorn from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

"Russian UNSC presidency is a slap in the face to the international community," Kuleba said in a tweet Saturday, two days after calling the development "a bad joke."

"I urge the current UNSC members to thwart any Russian attempts to abuse its presidency," he said. "I also remind that Russia is an outlaw on the UNSC."

The council's members rotate through the presidency on a monthly basis, based on alphabetical order. Russia is one of the council's five permanent members, as is the United States. China, France and Britain.

Russia last held the presidential post in February 2022, just ahead of its invasion of Ukraine, which it launched that month.

The Security Council president is supposed to remain neutral on all positions, but Ukraine remains skeptical Russia will adhere to that.

Last month, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for forcibly deporting children from Ukraine to Russia, making him the only leader on the council with a warrant for his arrest.

Russian officials said they expect to hold an informal meeting in early April to discuss the deportation of children issue.