The United Nations is not a useless organization, however, it needs gradual reform, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with young lawyers in Moscow.
Putin dismissed talks about the UN’s "inefficiency" as "a cliché occasionally introduced into the public mind by our foreign colleagues, especially the United States" after it failed to secure UN support for its invasion of Iraq in 2003.
But "the UN must comply with today's realities," Putin said on Wednesday. "A country such as India not being a permanent member of the [UN] Security Council is odd," he said.
The organization’s efficiency is guaranteed by "binding instruments" that it has at its disposal, unlike its predecessor, the League of Nations, which was undone by the outbreak of World War II, which it failed to prevent, Putin said, adding that these instruments must be preserved in any reform.
The UN Security Council, which is comprised of permanent members China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as 10 elected non-permanent members, has the power to impose economic sanctions and even sanction military intervention in countries deemed a threat to international peace.
Putin did not elaborate on proposed changes for the UN but said that the reform must be approved by most member states, even if it means drafting it would take years.
The United Nations, founded in 1945, has been working on an official reform program since 1997, but change failed to materialize so far.
