On Wednesday (local time), the US and its Western Security Council allies claimed that Antonio Guterres had the power to look into whether Russia used Iranian drones to strike civilians and power installations in Ukraine.
They refuted Moscow’s claim that the UN chief would break the UN Charter.
Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador to the UN, who requested the meeting, said that only the Security Council has the authority to order an investigation.
The secretary-general “must not seek or receive directions from any government or from any other authority external to the organisation,” according to Article 100 of the charter, which he referenced.
Robert Wood, the deputy ambassador for the United States, said that Russia’s position is “simply dumbfounding” and an attempt “to deflect attention from its own egregious crimes in Ukraine.”
Nicolas De Riviere, the French representative, charged that Russia has repeatedly violated the UN Charter “and trampled on its ideals by invading its neighbour and attempting to acquire its borders.”
Britain’s deputy ambassador, James Kariuki, called it “another attempt by Russia to distract from its crimes in Ukraine, and Iran and Russia’s failure to abide by their international obligations”.
Russian envoys claimed that the nation’s flurry of activity was squandering the Security Council’s time.
Russia demanded on Tuesday that talks take place behind closed doors to examine its unproven assertions that Ukraine is developing a dirty weapon. In an effort to halt the investigation into its alleged use of Iranian drones, it called the conference on Wednesday.
It also summoned a conference on Thursday to discuss its allegations that covert American laboratories in Ukraine were involved in biological warfare, which the US and Ukraine both denied.
In a letter to the Security Council last Wednesday, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya accused Iran of violating a council ban on the transfer of drones capable of flying 300 kilometres.
This clause was included in Security Council Resolution 2231, which supported the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the US, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany. The purpose of the agreement was to limit Tehran’s nuclear operations and stop the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani reaffirmed his nation’s denial of the “completely false charges” on Wednesday.
He asserted that Iran had maintained “a position of active neutrality” and “had never provided the parties with weaponry” ever since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Nebenzia told a council meeting on Friday that the drones are Russian — not Iranian — and warned that an investigation would seriously affect relations between Russia and the United Nations.
This week, he requested information from the UN legal department over whether opening an investigation in response to a few nations rather than the entire Security Council would be in violation of Resolution 2231 and Article 100 of the UN Charter.
In a briefing for the council on Wednesday, UN legal counsel Miguel de Serpa Soares said “it is only normal” that the UN’s 193 member nations “want to exercise as much influence as they can on the activities of the organisation,” without directly responding to Russia’s question.
Russia and the West disagree over a UN investigation into drone use in Ukraine.
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