Lavrov Addresses UN Security Council

April 25, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Sergey Lavrov chaired a meeting of the UN Security Council, yesterday, dedicated to the topic of “Effective Multilateralism through the Defense of the Principles of the UN Charter.” During his address, Lavrov told the council that Russia is disappointed that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initiative to convene a summit of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council was never realized. “In 2021, President Putin suggested that a summit of the permanent members of the UN Security Council be organized. The French and Chinese leaders supported this initiative, but, regrettably, nothing became of it,” he said.

Lavrov stressed that the UNSC’s permanent members bear special responsibility for peace and security in the world. “This topic is directly linked with multilateralism: not because the five powers have any privileges putting them above anybody else, but because of their special responsibility under the UN Charter for maintaining international peace and security. This is what we are supposed to do within the system where the United Nations plays a central role and which has been driven to the edge of collapsing due to the West’s actions,” he stressed.

“Concerns over such a state of things are heard in numerous initiatives and ideas of the countries of the global South: from East and Southeast Asia, the Arab and Muslim world as a whole—from Africa and Latin America. We value their sincere wish to settle any present-day problems through honest collective work in search of a balance of interests on the basis of the sovereign equality of states and the indivisibility of security,”

he added.

Lavrov also emphasized that the current conflict “is not really about Ukraine but about the future structure of international relations. Will they rest on a sustainable consensus based on the balance of interests or will they be reduced to the aggressive and explosive promotion of hegemony?” “Genuine multilateralism,” he continued, “requires the UN to adapt to objective developments in the process of forming a multipolar architecture of international relations.” This includes representation for Asia, Africa, and Latin America, who otherwise are subordinated because of the “inordinate over-representation of the West.”