Kaleidoscope

Russia Takes Over the Soviet Union's Seat at the United Nations

Abstract

I. Background

The recent disintegration of the former Soviet Union and its splintering into more than a dozen independent States has confronted the international community with a host of legal problems. Among these is the question of the assumption by Russia of the Soviet Union's seat in the United Nations, including the Soviet permanent seat in the UN Security Council.2 This note is devoted to a legal analysis of these aspects of the transformation, in December 1991, of the Soviet Union into the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Prior to the upheavals of 1991, the Soviet Union consisted of fifteen republics of which two - the Ukraine and Byelorussia - were original members of the United Nations.3 As one of the Sponsoring Powers of the San Francisco Conference (April-June 1945) that established the United Nations, the USSR also became a permanent member of the UN Security Council.4 Of the fifteen Republics, Russia was by far the largest and most populous.5

Following the failed coup d'état in Moscow in August 1991, the independence of the three Baltic republics of the Soviet Union (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) was recognized by a large number of States, including most of the western European countries and the United States. Bowing to the inevitable, on 6 September 1991, the State Council of the Soviet Union released these three republics from its ranks and recognized their independence.6 On 17 September 1991, they were admitted to the United Nations.7

The remaining twelve republics, having in turn all proclaimed their independence by December 1991, then proceeded, first at the tripartite meeting of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (the new name of the former Byelorussia) held at Minsk on 8 December 1991, and subsequently at the meeting of eleven republics,8 held in Alma-Ata (the capital of Kazakhstan) on 21 December 1991, to declare that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist as a subject of international law and that they would henceforth constitute the Commonwealth of Independent States. In the preamble to the two declarations adopted in Minsk by the leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, the three signatories stated that `the USSR, as a subject of international law and a geopolitical reality, is ceasing its existence'.9 Likewise, the eleven participating republics at the Alma-Ata conference stated in the fifth operative paragraph of the first of five declarations adopted by them that `with the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceases to exist'.10 Furthermore, in Article 1 of the fifth declaration, entitled `On UN Membership', the eleven signatories agreed that `Member states of the Commonwealth support Russia in taking over the USSR membership in the UN, including permanent membership in the Security Council.'11

The fate of the Soviet Union was finally sealed on 25 December 1991 with the resignation of its President, Mikhail S. Gorbachev.12 One day earlier, on 24 December 1991, the Permanent Representative of the USSR to the United Nations, Ambassador Y. Vorontsov, transmitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations a letter from the President of the Russian Federation, Boris N. Yeltsin, stating that:

the membership of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the United Nations, including the Security Council and all other organs and organizations of the United Nations system, is being continued by the Russian Federation (RSFSR) with the support of the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. In this connection, I request that the name `Russian Federation' should be used in the United Nations in place of the name `the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics'. The Russian Federation maintains full responsibility for all the rights and obligations of the USSR under the Charter of the United Nations, including the financial obligations. I request that you consider this letter as confirmation of the credentials to represent the Russian Federation in United Nations organs for all the persons currently holding the credentials of representatives of the USSR to the United Nations.13

The Secretary-General thereupon circulated Mr. Yeltsin's request with Ambassador Vorontsov's cover letter among the UN membership, adding that he had `informed the President of the General Assembly and of the Security Council of these letters, as they relate to matters of interest to all organs and organizations of the United Nations system...'14

In the absence of any objection, the delegation of the Russian Federation took over the Soviet seat in the UN General Assembly, in the Security Council and in other organs of the United Nations, with the appropriate changes of the name-plates and flag having been undertaken by the UN Secretariat. No new credentials were presented by Ambassador Vorontsov in his new capacity as the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation. On 31 January 1992 Russian President Yeltsin himself was in the Russian Federation's seat in the Security Council during the `summit meeting' of the Council attended by heads of state and government.15

In addition to Russia, two other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Ukraine and Belarus) had already been, as mentioned above, members of the United Nations.16 The remaining eight members of the Commonwealth of Independent States were admitted to the United Nations on 2 March 1992.17 Georgia was admitted to the UN on 31 July 1992, under General Assembly resolution A/46/241.

Let us now examine the legal problems arising in connection with the foregoing facts.

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