Russian official may lead UN's new counter-terrorism unit

The move comes amid growing tensions between the US and Russia

UN Secretary General visits refugees in Afghanistan in June 2017. He is set to appoint a Russian official as the head of a new counter-terrorism division of the world body. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)

The United Nations is making a change to their structure to include a new division dedicated to counter-terrorism and a Russian official will likely be appointed to lead it.

The General Assembly voted late last week to create a new coordinating body to oversee the counter-terrorism efforts of 36 UN-funded programmes currently housed under a variety of UN agencies, 12 inter-agency working groups, as well as Interpol, and the World Customs Organisation.

The existing Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force is under the political affairs division. There are also two related offices under the Security Council, which will remain in place.

Moving the direction of these agency programmes and efforts under a separate, distinct umbrella will serve to coordinate efforts better and serve to fully address the underlying global counter-terror policy of the UN, a document that is reviewed every two years by member states.

Some have posited that the UN’s move may have been due to Donald Trump’s vocal criticism of inaction and bureaucracy in the world body; he called it a “good time club” on the campaign trail.

In April 2017, Mr Trump hosted the Security Council at a White House luncheon in an unusual move and characterised the group’s “failure” when it came to controlling North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and the ongoing violence in Syria.

However, the change has been in the making for years now and will “hopefully [make the UN] a bit more transparent and effective” in its strategy to prevent violent extremism, according to Richard Gowan, a UN expert with the European Council of Foreign Affairs.

It also raises the profile of the UN’s efforts to fight terrorism, placing it on the same level in the “architecture” as global development, poverty eradication, and gender equality.

The budget for the new initiative does not include any new money, but shifts existing contributions from member countries to the tune of roughly $20 million a year.

The bulk of that money is coming from Saudi Arabia, which has contributed $110 million to be spread over the next five years. There are also 20 other states contributing, but the budget is small compared to other UN bodies.

Saudi Arabia and five other neighbouring nations recently cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, citing the small Gulf kingdom’s alleged financing of terror groups.

Critics have pointed out that several of the terrorists involved in the September 11th attacks were Saudi nationals.

The new Under Secretary General will mostly help member countries build up the capacity to combat terror through technical assistance and knowledge sharing.

CBS reported that the new division, called the Office of Counter-terrorism, will be led by a Russian official.

Given the ongoing FBI, Congressional, and special prosecutor investigations in the US regarding Russia’s interference in the 2016 election as well as ties to the Trump campaign team, the announcement may have raised a few eyebrows.

The appointment will come straight from Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Per UN rules, the Security Council - and the US, in turn - does not have the power to approve or reject the person appointed.

If the appointment of a Russian official seems controversial at this time, Mr Gowan told The Independent that it is “a pretty open secret” that the deal was actually made in 2016 when Mr Guterres was campaigning for his position.

For its part, Russia had agreed to give up its regional turn to lead the world body so that the Portuguese Guterres could have a chance.

“It is not pretty, but that is how UN politics works,” said Mr Gowan.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said to Fox News: “I don't want to see them get it. That's not something we would cheer for, but I wouldn't be surprised if they got it”.

In the running is a man at the centre of the Trump-Russia scandal: Ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak.

Andrey Krutskikh, a Kremlin advisor and a cyber-security expert, is also said to be in the mix, according to CBS News.

Given his cyber-security experience, he also presents a controversy for the US.

Seventeen intelligence agencies issued a report in January 2017 saying Russia hacked the emails of senior Republican and Democratic party officials as well as playing a role in the spread of disinformation through online “fake news” outlets.

One of the major concerns is that "working any global issue through the UN is that it requires reaching agreement with partners we might not otherwise choose,” Matthew C. Waxman, the faculty chair of the Program on Law and National Security at Columbia Law School, told CBS.

President Trump has expressed a desire to work more closely with Russian officials on counter-terrorism but the situation in Syria may be a notable exception.

Recently, the US downed a Syrian aircraft in the country’s airspace without the customary warning to Russian troops on the ground.

Moscow has routinely vetoed any UN resolutions against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and have said that any US-led coalition planes in Syria, west of the Euphrates river, as targets.

Mr Guterres “will probably get some flack” when he follows through on his campaign promise with the Russians, Mr Gowan said.

“But it's not like the new Under Secretary General will be carrying out covert killings. The job will involve a lot of bureaucracy and budget meetings”.