Russia Reaffirms Support for UN Security Council Reform and Candidacies of India and Brazil

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has confirmed Russia’s position in support of reforming the United Nations Security Council.

“We reaffirmed our position in support of UN Security Council reform, including backing the candidacies of India and Brazil as permanent members, while also addressing the issue of African representation,” Lavrov stated.

With this, Russia underscores the importance of making the Security Council more representative and balanced, reflecting current geopolitical realities and the interests of the Global Majority.

 

Expert Suslov: Support for India, Brazil, and Africa in the UN Security Council Reflects BRICS' Pursuit of a Fair Global Order

Dmitry Suslov, Chief Expert of the working group “Country analysis and analysis of BRICS national strategies”, BRICS Expert Council—Russia, Deputy Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at HSE University, noted that the representation of the Global South in the UN Security Council remains severely lacking.

The main reason BRICS countries support the candidacies of India, Brazil, and the African continent for permanent membership in the UN Security Council is the catastrophic underrepresentation of the Global Majority, said Dmitry Suslov.

“As of today, there is only one Asian country among the permanent members of the UN Security Council — China. There is not a single Middle Eastern, Muslim, Latin American, or African country. This does not reflect the current global balance of power and significantly undermines the representativeness and legitimacy of the institution,” the expert emphasized. He recalled that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeatedly stresses the phrase: “The world is bigger than five.”

According to the BRICS position, India and Brazil are natural candidates for permanent membership. “India is the most populous country in the world, the third-largest economy, a nuclear power, and one of the undisputed leaders of the Global South. Brazil is the leading country of the Latin American continent, taking a highly proactive stance on global governance under President Lula da Silva, and is also one of the world’s largest economies,” the expert noted.

According to Suslov, the issue of how to represent the African continent in the Security Council has not yet been resolved. Traditionally, BRICS countries supported the candidacy of South Africa, but after Egypt and Ethiopia joined the grouping, disagreements emerged. "The second option is rotational representation through the African Union, where each year a new chair country will represent Africa as a permanent member of the UN Security Council," he explained.

According to Suslov, Russia supports any decision agreed upon by the African countries themselves, but at the moment, no consensus has been reached on this issue.

 

Obstacles to Reform

As the expert noted, the prospects for reforming the UN Security Council in the near future are doubtful.

Moreover, there is a lack of agreement among the current permanent members. "The United States supports Germany and Japan, which is unacceptable to Russia and China. The US also does not support Brazil under its current leadership," Suslov pointed out.

Ideas to limit the rights of future permanent members, such as stripping them of their veto power, would lead to discrimination and further deepen divisions within the UN, the expert believes.

 

Role of BRICS

"In the event of the expansion of the UN Security Council to include BRICS countries, the role of the bloc in global politics will be further strengthened. One of the functions of BRICS is to develop a consolidated or coordinated position among its member countries on key issues of the global economy and politics within the frameworks of leading international organizations," Suslov concluded.