Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said UNSC reform should expand representation from Asia, Africa and Latin America, and rejected additional Western seats, particularly for Germany and Japan.
BY PC Bureau
September 27: Russia has thrown its weight behind India and Brazil for permanent membership of the UN Security Council while explicitly opposing the inclusion of Germany and Japan, setting up a sharp divide within the G4 grouping that has jointly campaigned for Council expansion.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, addressing the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Saturday, said any reform of the Security Council should give greater representation to Asia, Africa and Latin America rather than add more Western countries.
“UN Security Council reform cannot involve any additional seats being allocated to Western countries, especially to Germany and Japan, who are now on the path to militarism and revanchism,” Lavrov said.
“We are in favour of broadening the representation of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. We support Brazil’s and India’s candidatures for a permanent seat,” he added.
Lavrov also said the interests of African countries would have to be addressed in any reform of the Council.
Russia has long backed India’s bid for permanent membership, but Lavrov’s latest remarks go further by explicitly rejecting the candidatures of two other members of the G4 — Germany and Japan. The four countries have jointly campaigned for permanent seats as part of broader efforts to reform a Security Council whose five permanent members remain China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Moscow’s position is also consistent with the stance adopted at the BRICS summit in New Delhi earlier this month. The New Delhi Declaration reaffirmed support for comprehensive UN reform and greater representation of developing countries in the Security Council. It specifically stated that Russia and China support the aspirations of Brazil and India to play a greater role in the UN, including its Security Council.
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India’s candidature has also received support from other countries at the General Assembly, including Mauritius and Portugal.
Lavrov used the same address to sharply criticise Western policy towards the war in Ukraine. He accused Western countries of prolonging the conflict through arms supplies and alleged that they were assisting attacks on Russian civilians and civilian infrastructure.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov backs India’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. pic.twitter.com/Qb3h4KgSvO— Shadow IND (@ShadowIND_IN) September 26, 2026
“To pursue a utopian goal of containing Russia, the West dismantled the European security system and cultivated a Russophobic regime in Kyiv,” Lavrov said.
He accused European governments of obstructing efforts toward a negotiated settlement and said the West had sought to contain Russian influence through its support for Kyiv. He also warned of what he described as unspecified “consequences”.
Lavrov further alleged that some European leaders were motivated by what he characterised as a sense of racial superiority and accused Western countries of ignoring what Moscow describes as the growth of Nazism in Ukraine. He argued that such developments posed a challenge to the principles underpinning the United Nations.
The Security Council reform issue remains contentious, with disagreements over which regions and countries should receive permanent representation, whether new permanent members should have veto rights, and how any expansion should reflect the present distribution of political and economic power.
