Russia opposed Zelensky's online participation in the UN Security Council

The Russian delegation to the UN opposed the virtual participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the UN Security Council.

"Our delegation objects to the online participation of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in today's meeting. We are not against the participation of the President of Ukraine or his representatives in the meeting. But only such participation should be face-to-face - with his physical presence in the Security Council hall. This is not our whim, but the rules that govern the work of the Council. There is no politics here, but a matter of procedure," said Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN.

He noted that during the pandemic, the Council decided to work in an online format. But all video-conference meetings, by common decision of the members of the Council, "were informal." When the Council returned to the meeting room after the active phase of the pandemic, its members decided that they had returned to the normal format of work and the temporary rules of procedure for its work.

"That is, if we are members of the Security Council sitting in the hall, then other member states, according to rule 37, must be present in the hall," Nebenzya said.

He brought the issue of Zelensky's virtual participation to a procedural vote.