Ukraine will chair the UN Security Council in February 2017, the UN microblog on Twitter reported on 7December. "In February 2017, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko will become the chairman of the UN Security Council," reads the statement.
Earlier, the Ukrainian delegation to the United Nations initiated in the Security Council the review of the situation in Georgia in connection with the decision of the Russian Federation to deploy a joint group of troops in Abkhazia.
Ukraine is one of the 10 non-permanent members of the UN Security Council. Five countries - Ukraine, Egypt, Senegal, and Uruguay - were elected last year for 2016-2017. On December 31 this year, Angola, Malaysia, Venezuela, New Zealand and Spain will vacate their seats in the Security Council.
The delegates to the 70th UN General Assmbly this summer elected Bolivia, Ethiopia, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Italy and the Netherlands as new non-permanent members of the Security Council for the 2017-2018 years.
The Security Council consists of 15 UN members. Great Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States are permanent members of the Security Council. Another 10 non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year tenures.