The foreign minister said that the Security Council "is in need of structural reforms to better enable it to respond to modern trends."
"We consider natural the aspiration of such countries as India, Brazil, Germany, Japan, South Africa and Egypt to make their voices heard in the resolution of key international security issues," he said.
The most pressing matter in Security Council reform, Lavrov went on, was the necessity to reach a compromise among those supporting the introduction of new permanent seats on the Security Council and those who insist that its membership should be extended on a non-permanent basis.
"The issue of introducing new [permanent] members into the UN Security Council should not be solved in a way that will 'split' the UN member states," Lavrov said.
