Russia backs India & Brazil for permanent membership in UNSC

United Nations: Russia has voiced its support for India and Brazil as worthy candidates for permanent membership in the UN Security Council, calling them key international actors.

During the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday expressed his support for India, becoming a permanent member of the Security Council. In his address to the General Assembly just an hour before External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the UN and Security Council have to be aligned to contemporary realities.

He said Moscow sees the prospect of making the Security Council more democratic, exclusively, through broadening the representation of countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America. We note India and Brazil in particular as key international actors and worthy candidates for permanent membership within the Council whilst simultaneously unilaterally and mandatorily raising the profile of Africa, Lavrov said.

India has been at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for urgent long-pending reform of the Security Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.

At present, the UNSC comprises five permanent members and 10 non-permanent member countries which are elected for a two-year term by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The five permanent members are Russia, the UK, China, France and the United States and these countries can veto any substantive resolution. There has been growing demand to increase the number of permanent members to reflect the contemporary global reality.