“We consistently support the need to ensure Africa’s interests during the ongoing discussion of the UN Security Council’s reform. I assure you that Russia will not back the UN Security Council’s reform proposals, which will ignore the interests of the African states,” Lavrov said.
On November 8, Russian Deputy UN Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said that Russia backed the idea of increasing the UNSC's representation by involving developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
UNSC's enlargement was an issue initially raised in 1994 and has been largely disputed ever since. To date, UN member states still disagree on a range of aspects of the possible reform, including the number of Security Council members, distribution of seats, and maintaining the division of permanent and non-permanent members.
Currently the Council consists of five permanent, veto-wielding members: Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, China and France. The UNSC also includes 10 non-permanent, rotating members.
