Russia has said it will seek the expansion of the UN Security Council to include representatives from Africa, Asia and the Latin America.
The Security Council has to be reformed "in accordance with existing realities," and the dominance of the Western countries has to be balanced, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"Of the 15 members (permanent and non-permanent), the so-called 'golden billion' occupies six seats, this is unfair, unjust. Therefore, we will seek to expand the membership of the Security Council as soon as possible by including the countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America," Lavrov said during a press briefing in Moscow on Friday.
“The time has come to move on to equality,” he added.
Russia says "if everyone is for democracy, then let us not forget that democracy is also required in international relations."
Wagner 'mutiny’
Turning to the attempted mutiny by the Wagner paramilitary group, Lavrov urged Western politicians "not to worry" and dubbed the June 24 events as "a trouble, nothing more."
Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has moved to Belarus under a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, ending the rebellion Prigozhin led against Russia's military leadership.
The Russian top diplomat criticised the Western attitude to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, saying Western sanctions made it impossible to export Russian fertilisers and grain via the EU countries.
Moscow sees no reason to extend the deal that ends on July 18 because the Russian part is not being implemented, and the Ukrainian part, conceived as humanitarian, to help "the poorest countries," has become commercial, he said.
Assurance
But the top diplomat reassured African countries that they will not suffer in case of the end of the deal, as Russia will supply comparable or larger volumes of grain to "the poorest countries" at its own expense and free of charge.
To support his claims about the "commercial" character of the deal, the minister cited the UN data, according to which only two vessels per month were leaving Ukraine under the UN World Food Programme, while 90 vessels transported commercial cargo.
On EU concerns about the grain deal termination, Lavrov said: "Instead of expressing concern about global food security, the EU should do things that will really strengthen it."
Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed the agreement in Istanbul last July to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which were halted after the Ukraine war in February last year.
The deal has been renewed several times since then, and was extended for another two months on May 18.
