Russia rules out German and Japanese Security Council bids

Any reform would require a consensus among the permanent members, Russia’s UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, has said

Germany and Japan will never become permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has said.

January will welcome in a new season for talks on reforming the Security Council, but some of the initiatives are “quite naive and impractical,” Nebenzia said in an interview with Russia 24 TV on Friday.

“There are countries that are vying for a seat on the Security Council that they will never get, we have already said this directly,” he said.

“In particular, Germany and Japan. They will not see a permanent seat on the Security Council.” 

“There can be no reform that is not supported by the majority of member states,” Nebenzia added.

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London has previously stated that it wishes to see permanent seats for Germany, Japan, India, Brazil, and similar representation for Africa.

Security Council reform would require all five veto-holding permanent members, as well as two-thirds of the UN member states, to vote for the amendment, according to Article 108 of the organization’s charter.

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Russia, China, the US, UK, and France are the five permanent members of the UNSC.

Non-permanent members are voted in on a two-year rotating basis. On Thursday, Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama, and Somalia were voted in as new non-permanent members, joining Algeria, Guyana, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia.

Last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Moscow supports the expansion of the Security Council to include countries of the Global South.

“Our country has consistently supported and continues to support the expansion of the UN Security Council to include developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

On the other hand, Western states that often toe the line with Washington are already well represented in the council, she added.