UNITED NATIONS, August 30. /TASS/. The UN Security Council’s meeting on the Middle East settlement, scheduled for 10:00 a.m. (5:00 p.m. Moscow time) on Wednesday, as well as closed consultations on the DPRK’s missile tests, which were to be held afterward, have been canceled without any explanations offered, the office of the UN Secretary-General has said.

Meanwhile, an open discussion of the Security Council's working methods is scheduled for Tuesday, September 5. The early scheduling of Tuesday's meeting contradicts the customary UNSC practices, because the Council's president is to change on September 1 and appointing the new meeting is the successor’s prerogative.

The US presides over the UN Security Council in August. At the beginning of the month, the Council was unable to agree on a working program for August, because the US insisted on scheduling a meeting on Ukraine for the 24th. Russia opposed this.

In September, the UN Security Council will be chaired by Albania, which over the past two years has been consistently favoring the Western countries’ stance and constantly supporting the United States on all issues. September will see a high-level week of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters. As a rule, a number of UN Security Council meetings at the level of foreign ministers is held during this period.

At the same time, according to sources in the UN, the cancellation of Wednesday's meeting is not related to the situation in Gabon, which holds a non-permanent seat on the Security Council. The Council also intends to vote at 3:00 p.m. (10 p.m. Moscow time) on the extension of sanctions against Mali. It is impossible to postpone this vote because otherwise the relevant sanction resolution would expire.