Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, accused Ukraine's envoy to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, of demagogy and falsification of facts.

Kyslytsya alleged that Russia is unable to demonstrate its rights to permanent membership in the UN Security Council. According to him, following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian Federation did not follow the UN Charter's protocol for entering the UN. He also accused the UN Secretariat of concealing records relating to the matter and urged the body to recognize its error and make the information public.

Polyanski told Sputnik that "Mr. Kyslytsya bases his position on a set of pseudo-juridical statements pretending that they are axiomatic. However, it doesn’t take an international law scholar to see that his presentation is built around empty demagogy and deliberate misrepresentation of facts. Most importantly, he juggles the terms 'succession' and 'continuity' as if they were synonyms. From the legal viewpoint, they have completely different meaning."

"His flawed basic assumption seems to be that applying for the UN membership de novo, would be relevant to a case of a 'Successor State', like his own country, Ukraine, which inherited a portion of rights and obligations of the USSR and represents a new and distinct international law entity," he said.

According to Polyansky, Russia, unlike Ukraine, follows a separate legal system. He added that Kyslytsya proves his "complete legal illiteracy," by equating  'État-continuateur' to a 'Successor State." 

"The Russian Federation belongs to a totally different legal category, being an internationally recognized 'État-continuateur' of the Soviet Union. It means that the legal personality of the USSR did not terminate after 1991 – it continued under the name of 'the Russian Federation'. It’s hard to ignore the key difference here: 'État-continuateur' is the same entity under international law. "

Polyanskiy speculated that by saying that the United Nations kept some papers hidden, Kyslytsya was looking for confirmation of some sort of global conspiracy idea.

"You don’t need to go to the UN Secretariat to learn about the status of Russia as the 'État-continuateur' of the Soviet Union. There are no secrets or conspiracies whatsoever. Numerous documents, including relevant statements, verbal notes, international communiqués and declarations recognizing that fact are available in public domain," Polyanskiy said.

The First Deputy Permanent Representative said the decision of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Heads of State on December 21, 1991, established unequivocally that CIS members backed Russia's continued participation in the UN, including its permanent seat on the Security Council. Ukraine's President, L. Kravchuk, also signed the decision.

Polyanskiy suggested that Kyslytsya looks for the appropriate information in the archive of his own Foreign Ministry in Kiev.