ST. PETERSBURG, May 29. /TASS/. Russia will not allow its interests be infringed upon in the course of reforming the United Nations Security Council, a high-ranking Russian foreign ministry official said.

"We don’t challenge the importance of increasing the representation of countries of the global majority in the UN Security Council, but we need to be sure that any reform of the Security Council will boost its efficiency and, what is most important, that it will meet Russia’s foreign policy interests," Kirill Logvinov, director of the ministry’s international organizations department, told TASS on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum.

According to Logvinov, this issue, as well as a UN Security Council reform in general are being discussed during intergovernmental talks. "Actually, this format is an unchallenged platform where all member states can look for common ground on the topic of Security Council reforms," he said. "But the situation today is that due to serious differences between various groups neither of the proposed models can serve as a basis for a compromise."

The diplomat emphasized that it is important to take into account the attitude to this situation of the participants in the negotiating process. "Despite problems in intergovernmental talks, some players, including Russia, continue efforts to find mutually acceptable solutions on the reforming track. It is of principle importance for us to reach accord on all negotiating clusters before intergovernmental talks address text-related matters," Logvinov explained. "Other countries call for accelerating the process and bring intergovernmental talks to a qualitatively new level - the work on a text, or a relevant General Assembly resolution as a variant."

However, in his words, such a radicalized approach of those who push for accelerated changes is fraught with serious risks as it infringes on the interests of the Security Council’s permanent members and a number of influential regional players. "Apart from that, it is necessary to settle the current problems in the Security Council’s work. By saying problems, I mean, first of all, Western countries’ striving to compel the Security Council to their will at any cost, as well as their unwillingness to implement its resolutions," he added.