Putin Backs Indian Bid for Security Council

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin said Saturday that India should become a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council if the world body’s top decision-making panel is enlarged.

Putin said permanent members of the council should either all have a veto or none of them should have it.

“I am convinced that permanent seats on the Security Council should have veto power. Otherwise it would be a one-sided reform of the U.N.,” Putin said on a visit here. “If we agree that future permanent members of the Security Council should have no veto, the next step would not be giving these countries veto power but rather abolishing the veto.”

But the Russian leader warned that scrapping the veto risked weakening the council’s effectiveness.

“The loss of this instrument for the United Nations would mean a loss of credibility of this organization in the world,” he said.

India and Russia are allies dating back to the Cold War. India has joined Germany, Japan and Brazil in lobbying for seats at the U.N.’s top table.

Russia is one of the five veto-wielding permanent council members, along with the U.S., France, Britain and China. The council also has 10 rotating members, who lack veto power.

A decision on the specifics of the reform agenda is scheduled for the U.N.’s 60th anniversary meeting in September. To take effect, the reforms would require a two-thirds majority support of the U.N.’s 191 members and no veto from existing permanent members.