According to Kyslytsia, investigating and uncovering the truth about the illegitimate permanent representation of the Russian Federation in the UN Security Council proved to be quite challenging. After his appointment as Ukraine's permanent representative to the UN, he learned from his colleagues that the issue of Russia's membership "had not been sufficiently studied" and for many, it was considered "an old story." Kyslytsia noted that no one was willing to review it. Moreover, Kyiv had not raised this issue for over 20 years, until the onset of Russian aggression in 2014.
"Therefore, on one hand, we have done a lot to remind everyone of those events. On the other hand, there is no real progress because the entire system is structured in such a way that the rights and powers of permanent members of the Security Council are never called into question. Even in the face of such a large-scale aggression, there exists a 'code of silence' among the permanent members. None of them are willing to open the files regarding the rights and powers of permanent members. This could initiate a review process of the rights and powers of all permanent members. This organization cannot function if the United States loses its veto power," the diplomat explained.
He mentioned that obtaining documents on how Russia became a permanent member of the UN was impossible, as access to part of them was denied due to their classified nature. After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Kyslytsia requested the UN Secretary-General to provide copies of the documents he did not have access to during a meeting, as stated in the interview. In particular, one of the latest memorandums from the UN legal advisor to then-Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.
"It seems that it was December 18, 1991, when the UN legal advisor outlined three possible scenarios. All three scenarios involved voting in the Security Council and the General Assembly, which, as we all know, did not happen," Kyslytsia emphasized. He added that "we must also acknowledge Ukraine's responsibility," as the delegation led by the then-elected President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, agreed to allow the Russian Federation to take the place of the Soviet Union in the UN.
"This happened in Almaty, and Boris Yeltsin, along with his minister Kozyrev, staged almost a theatrical performance. Because at the end of the meeting, Yeltsin said: 'And here, colleagues, we still have a question about permanent membership. My minister Kozyrev has prepared a draft decision on this.' And Kozyrev replied: 'Boris Nikolaevich, I'm sorry, I forgot to prepare the necessary number of texts.' Everyone began to say, 'Boris Nikolaevich, don't be angry, we all agree.' So a decision was made, despite the fact that the country leaders did not even have the final text in hand. And there were no Ukrainian diplomats in the room. The Russians were afraid that the Ukrainians and Belarusians would disrupt the meeting. They knew that if this decision was not formally accepted by the leaders and was relegated to the expert level, it was uncertain whether it would be adopted. And time was of the essence. The Soviet Union was on the verge of ceasing to exist. The decision was made. And here at the UN headquarters, Secretary-General de Cuéllar was very helpful to the Moscow mission. He also had only a few days left in office. It was he who instructed the secretariat to simply replace all the plaques from the USSR to Russia. And the plaques were changed," the permanent representative underscored.
He noted that despite the consent of the then leadership of Ukraine for Russia to take the place of the Soviet Union, standard UN procedures should not have been disregarded. The head of the Security Council was supposed to organize a meeting and a discussion on this topic. However, the chair at that time was the Soviet, and later Russian ambassador, Yuli Vorontsov, who did not organize any discussions during his chairmanship in December 1991. There were none in January 1992, when the UK chaired the Security Council, Kyslytsia summarized.
"The Russians do not hide the fact that active consultations were held between them and the Americans in the fall-winter of 1991. And Ambassador Vorontsov himself acknowledges in his memoirs that it was American lawyers who devised the formula of extension, not succession. Therefore, this issue is not only about the extent of the rights and powers of permanent members. It also concerns the lack of political will for Washington, Paris, or London to agree to open this file. There is also the matter of someone needing to show courage and acknowledge that the actions of American lawyers and diplomats, as well as the political leadership of the country at that time, were incorrect," Kyslytsia stated, adding that "everyone should take their share of responsibility for what happened."
Ultimately, Kyslytsia, who served as Ukraine's permanent representative to the UN, expressed hope that "after this largest post-war conflict in Europe," the foundations of security would be reconsidered. This will help determine how to reform the organization, particularly in "finding a way that prevents permanent members from waging aggressive wars without consequences."