WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Divisions within the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) make it nearly impossible for the United Nations to constructively resolve the crisis in Ukraine, Chief of Staff to the Secretary General Susan Malcorra said at a Brookings Institution conference.
“It is clear that when there is a bigger confrontation — and Ukraine represents that bigger confrontation — among members of the Security Council, the chances for all of us to move forward on this very difficult agenda…is less and less likely to happen and happen well,” Malcorra said on Monday.
The UN’s “hands are tied” in the case of actively resolving the Ukraine crisis, Malcorra noted.
“When you have profound differences between two permanent members or more of the Security Council that are at the heart of their own policy, it is very difficult for the Secretary General to fix that,” she said.
The five permanent members of the UNSC with veto power are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, China and France.
The western members of the Security Council have argued that Russia is acting as an aggressor in the conflict in Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusations and has worked toward a resolution of the conflict through the multilateral Minsk Contact Group.
