'Worthy candidate': Russia backs India for permanent seat on UN Security Council

Russian Finance Minister on Sunday expressed support for India becoming a permanent member of United Nations Security Council, calling it a key international actor. While addressing 77th UN General Assembly, Sergey Lavrov said India is a worthy candidate for permanent membership in UNSC.

"We see prospective of making Security Council more democratic via representation of countries from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. India and Brazil, in particular, are key international actors and should be counted for permanent membership in council," he said.

India is currently a n-permanent member of 15-nation UN Security Council and will complete its two-year tenure in December 2022 when it will preside over Council.

Russia has indicated a willingness to support India’s candidacy in past but this is first time it has done so categorically in public. With this, India is only country to have endorsement of all three Western permanent members as well as Russia – which means it has backing of all permanent members except China.

Increasing support for India's permanent UNSC membership

Recently, United States also showed explicit support for India's permanent membership in UNSC. US President Joe Biden during his address to UN general assembly categorically said America supports India's bid. Besides this, re's a growing chorus among G4 countries (Germany, Japan, Brazil, and India) for New Delhi's membership and for representation of African countries.

India has been leading years-long efforts to reform Security Council, saying it rightly deserves a permanent seat at Council, as current form does t represent contemporary world realities. So far, 32 countries including India have called for urgent and comprehensive reforms in UNSC to adapt to current geopolitical realities.

signatories of Joint Statement recognized that a resilient world needs reformed and effective multilateralism to deliver solutions for poverty, climate change, pandemics, global food security, terrorism, and international conflict. signatories include Brazil, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mongolia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, and Vanuatu.

(With inputs from ncy)