Official website of the President of Russia

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President Valdimir Putin: Of course, all the decisions on reforms to the United Nations must be made on a consensus basis. But as for my own position, it is as follows. If we achieve an expansion of the number of permanent members of the Security Council, then I personally believe that they must have the right of veto from the start. Otherwise this will not be complete reform, which is designed to make this organisation and its decisions more effective.

There is also another reason for which I believe that this position is well-founded. If we agree that new, possible new permanent members of the Security Council will not have the right of veto, then the next step may not be to give them this right, but to abolish this right as the most effective tool of the UN’s activity. And for the UN, losing this tool will mean losing the significance and influence of the UN in the world.

But of course, all these decisions must be made on a consensus basis, as I said, and as a result of serious, fundamental talks with all our partners. Of course, everything that I have said also fully applies to India as a possible candidate for permanent member of the Security Council.