Russia rejects US claims its UN council presidency is a joke

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s U.N. ambassador is dismissing U.S. and European Union descriptions of its presidency of the Security Council this month as an April Fool’s joke. Vassily Nebenzia says Russia will be an “honest broker.” Speaking Monday at a news conference, he announced a meeting to be chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on defending the principles of the U.N. Charter, which Moscow is widely accused of breaking by invading Ukraine. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield says the U.S. expects the Russians will use their presiding seat “to spread disinformation and promote their own agenda as it relates to Ukraine, and we will stand ready to call them out at every single moment that they attempt to do that.”