JOHANNESBURG, August 24. /TASS/. Making Germany and Japan permanent UN Security Council members is out of the realm of possibility, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters.
"It is out of the question, of course, that Germany and Japan could join the Security Council on a permanent basis, thus only exacerbating injustice, as more than one-third of the current members represent the countries of the so-called golden billion, while the remaining 8 billion are basically underrepresented," he said.
The minister also said the two countries would bring absolutely nothing new to Security Council discussions because they "obediently do Washington's bidding, just like virtually every other Western country."
"The rare voices of some strategic autonomy of the European Union are simply drowned out by shouting: ‘Maintain discipline, don't break ranks,’" he said.
Lavrov said that Russia had long been talking about the need for UN reform. He agreed that much had been done over the past 15 years and it "helps the organization to adapt to the development of the world, science and technology." The minister went on to say that the main issue of reform is still the situation around the UN Security Council because it "is the symbol of the organization in the eyes of the vast majority of people and has powers that no one else has, including deciding on issues of war and peace, issues of coercive measures like sanctions."
"Of course, when we talk about justice and democratization, we cannot put up with the fact that of the 15 members of the Security Council, six represent the US camp, which is completely subordinate to its will," the minister said. According to Lavrov, this topic was discussed at the BRICS summit and was reflected in the final documents.
"This is the first time that it’s written in the BRICS that we support the reform of the Security Council through expanding the representation of developing countries in all membership categories, which naturally includes permanent membership," the minister said.
Lavrov said it’s been a long time since India and Brazil officially submitted their applications for permanent membership in the UN Security Council.
The Security Council is one of the five main UN bodies. Its permanent members are Britain, China, Russia, the United States and France. The 10 non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. Five of the 10 are up for re-election each year.