Estonian foreign minister hopes Belarus to miss out on UN Security Council seat

January 11, BPN. Hopefully, Belarus will not be elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in June’s vote, Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told participants in a webinar on Belarusian opposition’s strategies for 2023.

Estonia addressed this issue at the UN General Assembly and in conversations with senior diplomats from countries that may influence the decision-making, he added.

Estonia will support Slovenia’s bid for non-permanent membership in the UN Council in 2024-2025 in the Eastern European group, Reinsalu said.

“There will be a vote and we’ll see who wins,” Franak Viačorka, a senior aide to Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja, told BPN. The United States supports the Belarusian opposition, while Russia is against it, he added.

Belarus applied for non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council back in 2007. Slovenia submitted its application in December 2021. Eastern European countries are allocated one non-permanent seat for a term of two years. In 2022-2023, it is held by Albania.

Five non-permanent members of the Security Council will be elected at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in June 2023.