Russia has supported India’s candidature for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that representation of Asia, Africa and Latin America should be expanded in the Security Council.

Lavrov said Russia supports the candidatures of India and Brazil for permanent membership. At the same time, he opposed the allocation of additional permanent seats to Western countries, particularly Germany and Japan.

Lavrov also said that the rights and powers of the existing permanent members should not be reduced as part of reforms to the Security Council. Russia has previously supported expanding permanent membership while retaining the existing veto system.

Currently, the UNSC has five permanent members — Russia, the United States, China, the United Kingdom and France — which hold veto power, along with 10 non-permanent members.

India has served as a non-permanent member of the Security Council eight times.