A number of countries at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly raised the issue of reforming the Organization's Security Council.

In particular, French President Emmanuel Macron came up with this initiative, noting the need to "carry out broader work to find the international consensus that is necessary for peace."

“I would like us to finally start reforming the United Nations Security Council ... so that it becomes more representative, accepts new permanent members so that it can fully play its role,” the politician said.

He also expressed the view that the right of veto should be "limited in case of mass crimes".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also spoke on the topic of changing the composition of the Security Council.

According to him, "our rules and institutions should be adapted to the realities of the 21st century."

“Too often these rules and institutions are a reflection of the world as it was 30, 50 or 70 years ago.

This also applies to the United Nations Security Council,” Scholz stressed.

At the same time, the Chancellor recalled that Germany has long been committed to reforming and expanding the Security Council "primarily to include the countries of the global South."

“Germany is also ready to take on greater responsibility - as a permanent member and first taking the place of a non-permanent member (Security Council. -

RT

) in 2027-2028,” Scholz said, asking the rest of the UN member countries to support the application of Germany.

The need for reforms in the UN during his speech at the General Assembly was also noted by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

“For a world order based on the rule of law, a concentration of forces and knowledge is necessary.

To implement this, by all means, reform of the UN, strengthening of the functions of the UN is necessary, ”RIA Novosti quotes him as saying.

The Security Council currently has 15 members.

Among them are five permanent ones - Russia, the USA, Great Britain, France and China, which have the right of veto, and non-permanent ones, elected for two years.

Non-permanent members today include Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway and the United Arab Emirates.

  • Opening of the UN General Assembly

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Liao Pan/China News Service

Connecting Ukraine

It is noteworthy that the politicians who spoke connected the need for reforms with the events in Ukraine.

In their speeches, they once again criticized Russia's actions, presenting them as a "threat" to the current world order.

Together with the Russian Federation, those countries that did not want to choose a side in the conflict and join the position of the collective West were also condemned.

“Those who today keep their mouths shut, unwittingly, are serving the cause of the new imperialism that threatens our international order,” said Emmanuel Macron.

At the same time, he hastened to clarify that “modern imperialism is not the imperialism of Europeans or the West”, but the invasion of foreign territories and the “hybrid warfare” with price manipulation in the energy market, as well as with food and nuclear security.

Attributed the imperialist ambitions of Russia and Olaf Scholz, saying that the world cannot stand aside when the Ukrainian events take place.

According to him, the conflict poses a threat to everyone, in connection with which it is impossible to allow the conclusion of peace on Russia's terms, but Ukraine should be helped in every possible way.

Fumio Kishida spoke in the same vein, calling the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine a threat to the "integrity of the UN."

“What we need is action for reform, not just talk,” the politician said.

At the same time, experts draw attention to the fact that Western countries and their allies are lobbying the most loudly for reforms at the UN today.

“The point of all these speeches is to reduce Russia's influence in the UN, to curtail its veto power.

The reform will lead to the fact that the structure of the same Security Council will be blurred and the West will have the opportunity to fish in this troubled water and increase its influence, ”the director of the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the United States at Moscow State University explained in an interview with RT.

M.V.

Lomonosov Yuri Rogulev.

According to him, all the talk of Western politicians about giving space to new members from other countries, such as the global South, is just an attempt to mask their own imperialist ambitions.

“We know how the voting in the General Assembly and the Security Council goes: the United States processes different states, knocking out the desired result from them.

This is all well known, ”the analyst added.

Heated relevance

It is worth noting that talks about reforms in the UN have been going on for a long time.

This topic is raised almost every session of the General Assembly.

This year, Western countries used the Ukrainian agenda to update it.

Kyiv also had a hand in this.

Thus, since the beginning of the Russian special military operation (SVO), President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on the UN Security Council for reform.

According to him, the Security Council should either exclude Russia from the list of permanent members, or reform, or dissolve itself.

However, even representatives of Western countries admit that a change in the status of the Russian Federation in the UN cannot be expected now.

In particular, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the world organization, stated this in a May interview with PBS.

“I am aware of the request to review Russia's status as a permanent member of the Security Council.

But… at the moment I don’t think there will be any changes in this regard,” she said.

At the same time, the United States supports the idea of ​​expanding the composition of the UN Security Council.

Earlier, President Joe Biden said that he would like to see India and Japan as new permanent members. 

It should be noted that Russia is not opposed to the implementation of reforms in the United Nations.

As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said following talks with UN Secretary General António Guterres on April 26, "The UN Security Council must get rid of its main" defect "- the dominance of one group of countries."

“Out of 15 places, six belong to Western countries and their allies.

Developing countries are underrepresented.

We have repeatedly stressed that we want to see representatives of Asia, Africa and Latin America in this body on a permanent basis, and we directly mentioned our partners from India and Brazil.

But at the same time, there must be a candidacy from Africa,” the minister explained.

  • View of the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

  • RIA News

  • © Natalia Seliverstova

Difficulties of reform

Experts note that, in general, the problem of reforming the UN Security Council is long overdue.

According to Vadim Kozyulin, head of the Center for Global Studies and International Relations at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Vadim Kozyulin, the topic of change has been relevant since the period of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and the US intervention in Syria.

“Every time this topic arises when there is a serious conflict in the world and disagreements on it among the permanent members of the Security Council.

And it will continue to rise, but the solution to this problem is not yet visible, since it will be necessary to revise the principle of the formation of the Security Council, ”he explained in a conversation with RT.

The analyst emphasized that the difficulty lies in the fact that a huge number of countries apply for a seat on the Security Council - and all of them have their own good reasons and arguments for this.

“In a word, it will be impossible to form a new Security Council structure without hurting someone's feelings.

In addition, if we are talking about expanding the composition of the permanent members, then all the countries-permanent representatives will have to vote for it unanimously.

I doubt that they will quickly be able to reach a consensus on this issue, at least for now,” Kozyulin said.

In particular, as Yuri Rogulev noted, the United States will try to push through those countries that they consider, if not satellites, then close partners.

“The United States proposes to make India and Japan permanent members, because the first is expected to strengthen partnership as a thank you, and the second is generally a non-independent state.

Due to them, the United States will try to weaken Russia's role in the UN, ”the expert emphasized.

Political scientist Andrey Suzdaltsev also holds the opinion that the UN reforms being promoted today by the West are directed against Russia.

In a RT commentary, he noted that the proposed changes have nothing to do with plans to optimize or increase the effectiveness of the UN, but are aimed only at resolving the political conflict between the West and Russia.

“Reforms have been proposed before, especially when the US, ignoring the UN, invaded other states.

But then the Western world was deaf to the proposals.

Now the West is looking for loopholes to remove Russia, the founder and veto power.

They begin to look for options to abolish this right and vote with a majority, which they plan to provide with blackmail, bribery and threats.

However, the Russian Federation will never go for such reforms, ”concluded the analyst.