Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday he advocates expanding the UN Security Council to include Brazil and India, as well as an African representative. For the head of Russian diplomacy, expanding the main body of the party would be a way to rein in what Western powers, particularly the United States, call “unilateralism”.
Lavrov’s comments were made at a press conference with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. This is the United Nations chief’s first visit to Moscow since the beginning of the war, and his aim is to lay the groundwork for a negotiation that would allow a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.
Asked about a proposal under discussion at the UN General Assembly to end the veto power of the party’s permanent members, Lavrov refused to support the idea of ending this mechanism.
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But for Lavrov, what should happen is a UN reform with new permanent members in the Security Council. We want representatives from Asia, Africa and Latin America,” he explained. “India, Brazil and an African candidate.”
Noting that the US government “wants a unipolar world”, Lavrov emphasized that “something must be done to stop the oppression” that countries around the world suffer from Western powers, and that one of these measures should be the enlargement of the Security Council.
Since the beginning of the war, the Russians have used UN speeches to denounce the Americans and Europeans for the pressure they exerted on other smaller countries to vote in favor of their resolution. On Tuesday, Lavrov even hinted that Washington would blackmail leaders of other governments. According to him, Americans have bank account information for these politicians and they know where their children go to school.
If in the early moments of the war Brazil voted on resolutions proposed by the Westerners, Itamaraty changed its stance and began to abstain from almost all votes on texts in the UN and other institutions. Brazil’s gesture was even praised by the Kremlin, which stated that Brazil “knows” the reason for Russian actions.
During Jair Bolsonaro’s visit to the Kremlin in February, Moscow reinforced its support for Brazil’s Security Council candidacy. However, this was not the first time President Vladimir Putin adopted this stance. Along with other Brazilian governments, the Kremlin has adopted the same stance.
source: Noticias
