Putin calls for more U.N. veto power
Bakersfield Californian ^ | 12/4/04 | Neelesh Misra - AP
 

NEW DELHI (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a key recommendation of a United Nations panel on expanding the Security Council, saying Saturday that any reform would be one-sided if new members did not have veto power.

Putin also backed India's aims to become a permanent member. A high-level U.N. panel called Wednesday for expanding the 15-nation Security Council as part of a sweeping revamp of the world body. The panel presented two options: adding six new permanent members or creating a new tier of eight semi-permanent members - two each from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

However, panel members agreed that only the current five permanent members - the post-World War II powers the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - should retain veto power.

Putin disagreed.

"If we go to the enlargement of the permanent seats of the Security Council, I am convinced that they should have the veto power," Putin was quoted as saying by Associated Press Television News. "Otherwise, it will be a one-sided reform of the United Nations."

The panel was commissioned by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan after last year's bitter divisions over the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The United States had to abandon an attempt to get U.N. approval because of sharp opposition from France, Germany, Russia and other council members.

A possible council expansion has been on the U.N. agenda for more than a decade. But expansion faces major obstacles, including decisions on how large it should be, which countries should be permanent and which countries should have veto power.

Putin said if there was no veto for the new members, all vetoes would have to go.

"If we agree that future permanent members should not have veto power, the next step would be the abolition of veto power," he said. "But the veto power is an efficient instrument of international relations."

Brazil, Germany, India and Japan have joined forces to lobby for permanent seats.

In meetings with Indian officials, Putin "felt that India as a new member should have the full rights of permanent membership, including the right of veto," India's foreign ministry said in a statement. "If India achieves a permanent seat in the Security Council, it cannot be a permanent member of a second rank."