THE UNITED NATIONS, November 17. /TASS/. Moscow opposes any ideas that lead to infringing on the prerogatives of the UN Security Council’s permanent member-states, including the veto right, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Anna Evstigneyeva told the UN General Assembly’s meeting.

"For us any ideas are unacceptable that lead to infringing on the prerogatives of the current permanent members of the Security Council, including the veto right," Evstigneyeva said. "We should remember that this institute is an important factor encouraging the Council’s members to search for balanced decisions. Using the veto or a threat to use it on numerous occasions prevented the UN from associating with dubious ventures."

The diplomat also noted that Moscow wants the Security Council to become more representative, namely by developing states of Africa, Asia and Latin America. "We seek to repair historic injustice against Africa as the number of its seats in the Council neither corresponds to the continent’s modern role in international affairs nor the total number of African states," she said.

"The efforts on expanding the Council should not impact its ability to effectively and swiftly respond to emerging challenges," Evstigneyeva said. "In this context we call for keeping the compact character of the Security Council’s composition. Its best possible number should not exceed slightly more than twenty members.