NEW DELHI, 5 December 2004 — Russian President Vladimir Putin clarified his stand yesterday on Moscow favoring India’s membership of the UN Security Council. Putin said that his statement on Friday about Russia not favoring India as a veto-wielding power at the Security Council was misreported. Russia has no objection to India having veto powers like the five permanent members, Putin asserted.
The visiting Russian president was forced to clarify his stand on the subject as leading Indian newspapers yesterday reported his objection to India having veto powers. The Times of India headlined the report: “Putin Vetoes UN Veto for India”. “UN Seat Yes, Veto No,” splashed the Hindustan Times.
“If the Security Council is to be enlarged, either all or none of the members should have veto rights,” a Kremlin spokesman traveling with Putin said, stating Russia’s position.
“We consider India to be the No.1 candidate.”
India has joined a caucus of countries including Germany, Japan and Brazil lobbying for seats at the UN’s top table. Russia is one of the five World War II victors who are permanent Council members.
A decision on the shape of the reform is scheduled for the UN’s 60th-anniversary meeting next September. To take effect, the reforms would require a two-thirds majority of the UN’s 191 members and no veto from existing permanent members.
On Friday, when Putin was asked whether Russia supported India’s case for veto powers for new permanent members of an expanded council, he said: “We believe that it would be absolutely unacceptable to erode such existing tools of the UN because the organization will lose its weight and its role, changing into some discussion club, some new addition of the League of Nations.”
Yesterday Putin said some error in translation from Russian to English at the joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday may have caused the confusion and contributed to misinterpretation of his statement.
The visiting Russian president held wide discussions with Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Leader of Opposition Lal Krishna Advani separately yesterday. During his meetings Putin clarified Russia’s stand on the issue.
“In his meetings, the president categorically rejected the interpretation given by some newspaper reports on his remarks yesterday (Friday) about veto powers in an expanded Security Council,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said. Putin had emphasized the need for retaining the instrument of veto as a means of ensuring the effectiveness of the UN Security Council, the spokesman added.
Putin yesterday inaugurated a joint military and technology hardware venture in New Delhi. It will manufacture the supersonic anti-ship BrahMos cruise missile under an agreement inked between the two countries in 1998.
India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia’s Federal State Unitary Enterprise, NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM), are partners in the company.
The BrahMos is named after two rivers — India’s Bramhaputra and Russia’s Moskva — and there are plans to market the missile to other countries.
The Russian president later flew to Bangalore.
Ahead of Putin’s visit, Russia said it wanted to emulate India’s success in information technology as it wooed Indian firms for joint projects and called on both nations to team up to tap global markets.
The statement was made by Leonid Reiman, Russia’s minister for information technology.
“The development of IT is one of the top priorities of Russia,” Reiman told reporters on the sidelines of a business conference in Bangalore.
— Additional input from agencies
