WARSAW, Poland – Frustrated by the United Nations' passive response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, President Bronislaw Komorowski of Poland has said he intends next week in New York to call on the organization to change its rules to prevent Moscow from vetoing Security Council actions on the region.
"My main message will be that perhaps the United Nations should be reformed to make the institution capable of addressing the threats that really exist today," Komorowski said. "I think blocking the Security Council on Ukraine is a token, a symptom, of the general weakness of the U.N."
Like the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Russia has the power to veto any of the council's actions.
But actually removing Russia's veto on the council is nearly impossible. Under the organization's charter, removing the veto right would require both a vote of two-thirds of the General Assembly and ratification by whatever constitutional process is in place in two-thirds of the member nations, including all five permanent council members.
In other words, Russia has a veto over removing its own veto.
New York Times
