Moscow Ready for UN Security Council Reforms: Russian Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, December 9 (Sputnik) — Moscow is open to various scenarios for UN Security Council reform, provided it expresses the interests of all member states and is acceptable to them, Russia's deputy foreign minister said in an interview with Rossyiskaya Gazeta Tuesday.

"We are considering two main directions of possible reform of the Security Council. One group of countries favors the expansion of both permanent and non-permanent members… Another, no less reputable, so-called united for consensus group, stands for expansion only through non-permanent members," Gennady Gatilov said.

The official noted however that the main obstacle to expansion is the lack of agreement within regional groupings.

"The important thing for us is that all regions are adequately and more equally represented in the United Nations, especially developing countries," Gatilov said.

Japan, Germany, Brazil and India form the G4 group, each of which is seeking a permanent seat, with the veto powers it entails. Their regional rivals, dubbed Uniting for Consensus and led by Italy, propose instead to expand the 10 non-permanent seats while maintaining the P5 structure.

A vote of two thirds of the members of the General Assembly and ratified in accordance with their respective constitutional processes by two thirds of the Members of the United Nations, including all the permanent members of the Security Council, is required to pass a Security Council expansion resolution.