There is an old Chinese saying called "reciprocating a peach", which means that after giving a favor to another person, the other person will return the favor with the same kindness. Russia seems to be well aware of this. Recently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov publicly reiterated his support for India's position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council after talks with Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar. The symbolism of this position seems to be more important than practical. The UN Security Council has 15 members, including 10 non-permanent members, five of which rotate annually and are elected by the UN General Assembly. In addition, there are five permanent members, namely China, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and the United States, who are long-standing representatives of the United Nations. Although in recent years, some countries such as Japan, Brazil, and Germany have actively applied for permanent membership, in order to maintain the vitality and executive power of the Security Council, the "club" of permanent members is basically closed. However, India's desire to become a permanent member of the Security Council seems to have reached the point of near-obstinence. Since 1990, India has repeatedly submitted requests to the General Assembly for permanent membership, at least six times, but has been rejected each time.
In September this year, India applied again, and as an opportunity, Modi** also produced a propaganda video, listing six reasons why India should be allowed to "join the norm", and even threatened to withdraw from the United Nations if the application was unsuccessful. India is so obsessed with becoming a permanent member of the Security Council partly because it sees it as an important sign of becoming a global power. India's candidacy as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council has been a topic of intense concern. This status will bring enormous influence to India, not only with veto power on international issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli situation and the Middle East issue, but also to exert pressure on Pakistan and influence small neighboring countries to curry favor with India, thereby strengthening India's influence in the South Asian region. Russia has always paid lip service to India's candidacy as a permanent member. However, this support has yet to be translated into action. As early as more than 20 years ago, Russia pledged to support India as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and repeatedly stated that India was the first choice. The reason for Russia's positive attitude is partly because of the interests of the West and because Russia benefits from economic cooperation with India.
Especially after the West launched comprehensive sanctions against Russia in 2022, India became a core economic partner of Russia. According to official data, in the first 10 months of this year, the amount of India and Russia increased to 54.7 billion US dollars, an increase of about double, of which oil ** accounted for a large share. Russia's deputy prime minister said that India is the main buyer of Russian oil, and exports have increased by at least 40%. During his recent visit to Russia, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar reached a multifaceted cooperation agreement with Russia, including military cooperation. The Russian Foreign Minister said that the two sides have reached an agreement on joint production**. [MiG family]. Russia is currently the main country in India, covering three aspects: land, sea and air. On the naval side, Russia supplies MiG-29K fighters;In terms of the Air Force, India uses Su-30MKI, MiG-29 and MiG-21 fighters;On the army side, India uses BrahMos cruise missiles. Such close military cooperation is very beneficial for the economic development of Russia. However, some believe that this cooperation may be Russia's strategic layout against China, because the border dispute between China and India has not been resolved, and Russia's supply to India could pose a threat to China.
But in reality, Russia is doing this not out of a threat to China, but out of commercial interests. The two sides have many common interests, so it is natural for Russia to support India's request for "normalization". However, Russia is also well aware that support for India will not change the status quo of checks and balances among the five permanent members of the United Nations. India itself is also facing many objective problems, such as the domestic ** princely state and religious system, as well as the controversy over the caste system. In addition, India's literacy rate is relatively low, and it has tended to rely on superstitious practices such as Ganges water, sacred cows, and sacrifices during the pandemic. These are the challenges that India faces if it wants to become a permanent member of the United Nations. Thus, despite the close relations between Russia and India, there are still many obstacles to overcome for India to become a permanent member. The United States wants to weaken the voice of Russia and China by increasing the influence of its allies Japan and Germany in the UN Security Council. At the same time, the United States is also trying to woo India, but is more inclined to support Japan and Germany as permanent members of the Security Council. Russia and China, on the other hand, advocate a greater voice for developing countries in the Security Council, preferring to support African countries as permanent members rather than having America's allies join.
In addition, some countries, such as Pakistan, Italy and Egypt, oppose any country becoming a permanent member of the Security Council. According to UN rules, to become a permanent member of the Security Council, it needs to be approved by a majority of 2 or 3 of all UN member states, and it is necessary to obtain the unanimous vote of the permanent members. Given these conditions, it will be difficult for India to realize its aspirations to become a permanent member of the Security Council, even if it has the support of Russia.