During his speech at the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov endorsed India’s aspirations to acquire a permanent position on the United Nations Security Council.
Lavrov stated that Russia backs higher representation of the Asia, Africa and Latin America countries in the Security Council, and welcomed India and Brazil for permanent positions. The comments take place in the general setting of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly that began on September 8, 2026.
We support more representation for Asia, Africa and Latin America. Reports from Lavrov’s speech point to the support of Brazil’s and India’s candidatures for permanent membership on the Security Council.
The Russian foreign minister, meanwhile, in a meeting, opposed to proposed expansion by the West of the permanent membership. He made special reference to Germany and Japan and stated that the Council should not have any further Western representation, except that of the Moscow city.
Lavrov also stated that the transformation of the Security Council must not change the council’s privileges enjoyed by the permanent members. Previously, Russia has not opposed increasing the permanent members, but has favoured the existing veto system.
India has long pleaded for reform of the Security Council, with its composition failing to give it a true representative picture of reality today. The Council has 10 non-permanent, five of which are permanent members, namely: the United States; the United Kingdom; the United Nations Republic of China; France and Russia.
The new move comes after a blanket approval by Russia last year and in July for India and Brazil as potential permanent members of the Security Council. Previously, UN documents record Russia’s calls for more representation of developing countries and naming India and Brazil as candidates for permanent seats.
Given that it was about the same time Mauritius was putting forward the treaty for permanent membership in the UN Security Council, the island nation also supported India’s bidding in this regard at the UN General Assembly.