Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday said that the country was in favour of India becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. India incidentally was recently elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for a two-year term. This is the eighth time the country will sit at the UN high-table.
Calling India a "strong nominee to become a permanent member of UN Security Council" Lavrov said that Russia supported its candidacy.
"We believe it can become a full-fledged member of the Security Council," he added.
On Tuesday there was a virtual trilateral meeting between Russia India and China. This comes in the wake of last week's violent clash at the Indo-China border in eastern Ladakh that had left 20 Indian army soldiers dead and others injured.
Speaking at the meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had underlined the need for recognising legitimate interest of partners in a multilateral set-up and following ethos of international relations. His comments came in the presence of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
News agency ANI quoted Lavrov as saying that he didn't think India and China needed any help from outside. "I don't think they need to be helped,especially when it comes to country issues," he said, adding that the two countries had "showed their commitment to peaceful resolution".
"They started meetings at the level of defence officers, foreign ministers and neither of the two sides made any statements which would indicate that any of them would pursue non-diplomatic solutions," he noted. The Russian Foreign Minister expressed that the situation would continue to be peaceful.
(With inputs from agencies)
