"In February 2017, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko will chair the UN Security Council," according to the Russian-speaking UN account on Twitter.
As reported earlier, Ukraine was elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2016-2017 in October 2015, 177 countries supported this decision in a vote.
Read alsoPoroshenko stresses "critical" need to reform UN Security CouncilUNIAN memo. The UN Security Council consists of 15 states. Only five of them are permanent members of the organization as they have played a key role in the very creation of the United Nations: United Kingdom, China, Russia (as the successor of the Soviet Union), the United States and France. They also have the right to veto the decisions of the UNSC. Half of the remaining 10 seats are updated annually.
Read alsoUN human rights chief calls to limit veto use at UN Security CouncilThe election of non-permanent members is held at the UN General Assembly every autumn. The country should enlist the support of two-thirds out of 193 UN member states, but first passing the approval process in its regional groups: Asia-Pacific, African, Eastern European, Latin American, Western European and other states.
Last time, Ukraine was a non-permanent member of the Security Council 15 years ago. Today, 193 countries are members of the UN.
