Russia is against any haste in the expansion of the UN Security Council and said the issue needs much wider support among UN members than the two-thirds majority in the General Assembly and may take many years.
"Recent statements of the US President Barack Obama in New Delhi and Tokyo are in line with similar statements by other world leaders," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexei Sazonov said in response to a question about Obama's backing for India and Japan as the permanent members of the apex UN body.
He said that the progress in the issue of UNSC reform was possible only through a search for a compromise, for which there was a need for delicate work, which, probably may take many years.
"Like many participants of this process, the Russian Federation has also voiced support for the candidatures of the countries, which significantly influence the modern international processes," Sazonov said in an obvious reference to Moscow's support for UNSC aspirants like India and Germany.
Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin was the first among leaders of the permanent member states of the UNSC to unconditionally back India for the permanent berth in the top UN body in early 1990s, but since subsequent improvement in ties with Beijing, which also opposes Japan's candidature like Moscow due to territorial disputes, Russian leaders Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev have described India as a 'deserving' candidate in case of UNSC expansion on the basis of widest possible consensus.
In an obvious reference to the G-4 (India, Germany, Brazil and Japan) strategy to directly go to the General Assembly, Sazonov said: "the negotiations process should not be artificially limited to one or two models of Security Council expansion and no attempts should be made to put on vote in the General Assembly any proposals for reforms or conduct unofficial voting on this or that model of UNSC expansion."
"We need to find such a model for the expansion of the most important UN body, which would enjoy the widest support of member states of the UN, much wider than the two-thirds majority required for adoption by the General Assembly," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman underscored.
