Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov supported Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement about the need to reform the UN Security Council.
"President Erdogan's eloquence is well known. He speaks freely, on various topics. I agree with him that the five permanent members of the Security Council have no right to dictate the fate of the world," the diplomat said on the sidelines of a conference organised by the Valdai Discussion Club.
According to him, the P5 have the powers exclusively within the UN Charter, which reflects the collective will of all members of the world community. "And the P5 bears a special responsibility for the global situation, first of all, in avoiding a global conflict. And this has been done for more than 75 years. I hope it will continue," the minister said.
At the same time, he stressed the need to adapt the UN and the Security Council to the new realities. "Because the world is no longer 50 countries, as was the case when the UN was created, even not 70, as was the case with the expansion of the Security Council from 12 to 15 members, but much more, 193, and these are only UN members. And, of course, developing countries absolutely rightly insist that their representation in this main body of the UN be increased," Lavrov emphasized.
"Now, if you look at the composition of the Security Council, the West has at least 6 out of 15 members. And when Japan is elected to the Security Council from Asia, [this is] the seventh vote in the piggy bank of Western policy, which is promoted through the UN Security Council. Therefore, the West no longer needs to add seats to the UN Security Council, and the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America must definitely do it," the Russian Foreign Minister concluded.
