MOSCOW, (Reuters): Russia on Thursday questioned how U.S. President Donald Trump’s newly formed Board of Peace would function alongside the United Nations Security Council, which has been the main body responsible for international peace and security since the end of World War Two.
Trump first proposed the board in September while presenting a plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza. He later said its mandate would expand to address other global conflicts, a role traditionally overseen by the United Nations.
The United States is the only permanent member of the UN Security Council to have joined the board. The other permanent members are Russia, China, Britain and France.Kirill Logvinov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s international organisations department, said the board’s charter describes it as a new international structure intended to replace mechanisms that have often proved ineffective. He noted that the board’s mandate does not mention Gaza and said the initiative raises questions about how it would coexist with the United Nations and its Security Council, which he described as the only universally recognised body for maintaining international peace and security.
Logvinov also said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had not been invited to the board’s meetings so far.
According to its charter, the Board of Peace will carry out peace-building functions in line with international law. Trump, as chairman, will hold extensive executive powers, including the ability to veto decisions and remove members, subject to certain limits.The UN Security Council held its first meeting in 1946 and is headquartered in New York.
