Russia has expressed support for Palestine to become a permanent member of the United Nations (UN) at the earliest opportunity, Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitriy Polyanskiy said.
"We will, of course, insist that Palestine receive UN member status as soon as possible," Polyanskiy wrote in his Telegram channel, in relation to the upcoming UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Palestine's admission as a permanent member of the UN, scheduled for April 8 in a closed format.
"I do not rule out that an open session will also be held on this subject during the day," he added.
Polyanskiy further noted that Israel has been a permanent member of the UN since 1948, while Palestine's application, submitted in 2011, has been "stalled in a legal debate within the Security Council committee on the admission of new members." "The only outcome was a proposal to grant Palestine permanent observer status," he recalled. He anticipated "numerous political and legal discussions ahead" regarding Palestine's path to UN membership status.
In late February, Palestine's Permanent Observer to the UN Riyad Mansour announced that Palestine, with the backing of Arab countries, intends to apply to the UN Security Council to initiate the process of accepting the country as a permanent member of the UN.
Currently, Palestine holds a permanent observer status at the UN, which allows it to attend most meetings and access almost all relevant documentation, albeit without voting rights. The only other entity with permanent observer status at the UN is the Holy See (Vatican City).
The admission process of a country to the UN, as outlined on the UN's official website, is determined by the General Assembly based on the Security Council's recommendation. For the Security Council to recommend a country's admission, 9 out of the 15 members must vote in favor, provided none of the permanent members (Great Britain, China, Russia, the United States, and France) oppose it. The application then moves to the UN General Assembly, where it must receive a two-thirds majority vote for accession.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Zuma\TASS
Based on materials from TASS