Russia questions how Board of Peace will coexist with UN Security Council
Moscow warns Trump’s proposed peace body could sideline the UN and undermine the Security Council’s central role in global conflict resolution.
Russia has questioned how US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace would work with the United Nations Security Council, which has served as the fulcrum of collective international peacemaking since the end of World War II.
Trump first proposed the board in September, when he unveiled his plan to end Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. Later, he said its remit would expand to tackle other conflicts globally – efforts traditionally overseen by the United Nations.
The United States is the only permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to have joined Trump’s board. The other UNSC members, Russia, China, Britain and France are not part of the Board of Peace.
"The charter of the Board of Peace defines itself as a new international structure designed to replace 'mechanisms that have too often proved ineffective'," Russian foreign ministry official Kirill Logvinov told state news agency TASS on Thursday.
‘Peace-building functions’
The board's mandate never mentions Gaza, Logvinov, the director of the ministry's international organisations department, added in an interview.
"It is clear that this approach raises questions about how the Board of Peace will coexist with the United Nations and its Security Council, which is the only universally recognised body for maintaining international peace and security."
He reiterated Russia's observation that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had not been invited to the board's meetings so far.