Russia "fully supportive" of India to become permanent member of UN Security Council, says envoy Alipov

New Delhi, Jan 08: Voicing his support, Russia's Ambassador to India, Denis Alipov, has said that Russia is fully supportive of India's right to become a permanent United Nations Security Council member.

He underlined that the matter was also discussed in depth among the foreign ministers of both countries in December.

"Russia is fully supportive of India's right to become a permanent UN Security Council member. This topic was also discussed in depth between the Foreign Ministers in December," the Russian Ambassador said, while speaking at the public talk-international turbulence: Challenges and opportunities, here in the National Capital.

"The India's permanent membership in the UN Security Council, given its balanced and independent approach to the most topical issues, and the concurrent Indian Presidencies in the G20 and in the SCO in 2023 have given an opportunity to efficiently promote the agenda of these crucial associations for the sake of overcoming the current economic upheavals, promoting Sustainable Development Goals, digital and energy transitions to enhance benefits for all but not a few, [1.9s] we extensively collaborate within the BRICS format," the envoy added.

The Russian envoy emphasised that there were exchanges between the heads of Security Councils, foreign Ministers met seven times last year.

He said, "Received the Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia Valentina Matviyenko. As also there were exchanges between the heads of Security Councils, foreign Ministers met seven times last year. This dynamic is a reflection of the high relevance of our dialogue in the current turbulent geopolitical scenario and is destined to remain so..."

"We stand like-minded in preserving the unbiased character of multilateral institutions, focusing on genuine democracy in international affairs and global governance based on the central role of the United Nations and international law, as opposed to the never-formulated rules-based order," Alipov added.

"We resumed last year the work of the Intergovernmental Commission after the pandemic," he said, adding that "Russia and India maintained steadfast bilateral relations underpinned with intensive political dialogue in 2023."

Quite recently, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Moscow on a 5-day trip, where he not only met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov but also President Vladimir Putin.

Jaishankar held extensive discussions with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on a wide range of global issues Indo-Pacific, Ukraine conflict as well as Gaza.

The two leaders also discussed progress in economic cooperation, connectivity efforts, military-technical cooperation and people-to-people exchange.

Jaishankar appreciated the India-Russia trade, which is at an all-time high. He said that the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement between India and the Eurasian Economic Union will resume in January next year.

The Eurasian Economic Union is an economic union of five post-Soviet states located in Eurasia. The five member nations are; Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

The EAM, in Moscow also announced that New Delhi is looking to expand its investments in oil and gas in which the two countries enjoy a very substantial relationship. Jaishankar said that amendments have been signed to take the Kudankulam nuclear power project forward.

He added that the two leaders also spoke about connectivity from the North-South Transport Corridor.

He called Russia India's "valued and time-tested" partner, and said that India and Russia have benefited enormously from the relationship that the two nations share and added that the developments in various sectors, including trade, investment and military technical cooperation showcase a good sense of importance that New Delhi attaches to its ties with Moscow.