GENEVA, December 1. /TASS/. All provisions of the UN Charter remain valid and the member states should comply with them unconditionally, Gennady Gatilov, Russia's permanent representative to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, has said.

"The US and its closest allies are promoting the concept of a 'rule-based order' that they themselves have invented. We are against this," Gatilov stated in an interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman. "We believe that the international order should be based on the UN Charter and the principles of international law, and not on the rules that they make up for themselves and then impose on other states. This unifying agenda furnishes the basis for our entire foreign policy. It’s a unifying agenda based on the UN Charter."

Asked whether the issue of changing or adjusting the UN Charter was being discussed at the moment, the Russian envoy said: "No, this question is not on the agenda, because if we get down to correcting the Charter now, the entire UN system will collapse. There is nothing in the Charter that requires correction. All of the provisions written down there in 1945 remain relevant."

"The point is for all states to strictly adhere to the UN Charter, and not to invent their own new rules of behavior on international platforms. This is the essence of the discussions afoot both in Geneva and in New York," Gatilov continued. For Russia, "the UN Charter and its provisions and principles are a priority. The US and its allies, on the contrary, prioritize "the notorious rules that they themselves invent." Their rules-based order does not suit many people, in particular the global South, he stressed.

Gatilov recalled that Russia, together with its allies, had created a group in support of the UN Charter. It incorporates more than 20 states that proceed from the fact that international relations should be built on the basis of the UN Charter. "Within the framework of the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations we have made many joint statements in various international organizations. These statements reflect our common position. This applies to human rights, health, development and trade. We have allies with whom we are actively cooperating," the diplomat explained. One such country is Venezuela. "We are grateful to Venezuela for the coordinating role it has assumed within the framework of the Group of Friends in Defense of the UN Charter," Gatilov concluded.