July 24, 2000
Russia is ready to support the expansion of the list of U.N. Security Council members "on a limited scale and on the condition of broad accord within the United Nations on these issues," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told a Monday news conference in Shanghai.
"The composition of the reformed Security Council should be balanced to the utmost: along with industrialized countries, it should contain major influential developing countries pursuing independent foreign policies," he said.
Ivanov said that it was a matter of principle for Moscow that the current permanent Security Council members keep their prerogatives and powers, including their right to veto. "This is the backbone of the effectiveness of the U.N. Security Council," he said.
On the whole, there should not be any artificial haste in expanding the Security Council, Ivanov said. "We cannot agree either with the idea of quickly repairing the Council or attempting to time a decision on this key matter to jubilee dates or events," he said.
The Russian side proceeds from the belief that "the ultimate purpose of Security Council reform should be its greater effectiveness and authority in international affairs, because this is the main U.N. body in the sphere of maintaining world peace and security and it must react to acute regional and global stability threats fast," he said.
