Russia pitches India for permanent membership in UNSC: ‘Key international actor’

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov spoke on this during his address at the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States.

Russia has backed India for becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council- a world body responsible for maintaining international peace and security.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov spoke on this during his address at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States.

He said the security council could be made more democratic by including representation of countries from Africa, Asia, and Latin America and pitched India and Brazil as some nations that, he said, should be counted for permanent membership in the UNSC.

"We see prospective of making Security Council more democratic via representation of countries from Africa, Asia & Latin America. India and Brazil, in particular, are key international actors and should be counted for permanent membership in the council," news agency ANI quoted him as saying.

In a joint statement on the security council in both permanent and non-permanent categories, India along with 31 other countries had called for reforms in its working methods which, it said, were indispensable to making this body more representative, legitimate, effective, and delegations reiterated.

The signatories of the joint statement stated that they reaffirm that adapting the United Nations to contemporary world realities necessarily requires urgent and comprehensive reform of the council.

During his address to the Assembly, Lavrov also lashed out at the West for "throwing a fit" over the referendum that is being conducted in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine – in the middle of the seven-month-long war – on becoming a part of their federation.

Russian-installed leaders in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia provinces of Ukraine had announced plans for the votes which are expected to be held till Tuesday.

The Russian Foreign Minister said the crisis surrounding the war was growing, and the international situation was rapidly deteriorating, but instead of having an honest dialogue and searching for a compromise, the West was "undermining confidence in international institutions" and encouraging negative tendencies within the United Nations as well, according to UN News.

(With ANI inputs)