Russia to support any decision on UN SC reform if it results from general consent - Lavrov

MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. Russia is ready to support any decision on reforming the United Nations Security Council if it comes as a result of a general consent, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman for his TV film "United Nations - 70 years" from the "Formula of Power" series. "Our position is like follows: we are ready to support absolutely any decision," he said. "I am not joking, I am absolutely serious. Either to add only permanent seats, or only non-permanent seats, or several permanent and several non-permanent." "The core of our position is to observe the original mandate of the United Nation General Assembly to all this work and the mandate had it that the final decision was to be the result of general consent, which means that two thirds of votes are not enough," Lavrov said. "We are not speaking about 100 percent consensus and the U.N. General Assembly does not require that. A couple of countries may always have their own vision and refrain from joining consensus, but general consent is not two thirds." "General consent is needed due to one simple reason: if we put for vote the issue of the U.N. Security Council’s extension proceeding from the assumption that such a dramatic reform with mandatory permanent seats and additional seats enrolls supporters who would have two thirds of votes, it would be a legally right decision from the point of view of the Charter principles, but from the political point of view, there would be countries that would form a minority of one third of votes and that would vote against," the Russian top diplomat said. "They are not pariah countries. They are very authoritative and respected states, the so-called medium-sized states. Italy, Spain, Mexico, Latin America, Asia - these countries would be absolutely unfairly isolated in this situation. They are paying to the budget of the United Nations and peacekeeping operations," Lavrov noted. "The Scandinavians, who are included in this group, are very big donors of many socially-oriented funds, such as UNICEF, and so on. In their eyes, such an ‘upgraded’ Security Council, if it is reformed through voting in defiance of their striving for a consensus and compromise, would be no more legitimate than it is now, on the contrary, it will be even less legitimate." Read more