Lavrov: Russia supports Palestine's membership in the United Nations

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that Moscow supports Palestine's accession to the United Nations, noting that Russia defends a position based on the rules of international law to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

“In 1949, we supported Israel’s application for membership in the UN, subject to the implementation of General Assembly resolutions 181 and 194 on the partition plan of Palestine and the right of return of Palestinian refugees, and we clearly stated this when we voted in favour of its admission to the UN,” Lavrov said in a speech at a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.

He added: "Today, we also support the admission of Palestine, whose sovereignty has already been recognized by about 150 countries, to the ranks of the United Nations."

Lavrov pointed out that Russia defends a position based on the rules of international law within the framework of various international formulas for settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as well as the conflict in the Middle East in general.

He continued, saying: “We proceed from the inevitability of implementing the United Nations resolutions, including the first General Assembly resolutions mentioned above and the main Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, which were adopted after the end of the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, as well as resolutions 478 and 497 on the status of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.”

It is noteworthy that the United Nations General Assembly adopted, on May 10,  a resolution on the right of the State of Palestine to full membership in the United Nations , and recommends that the Security Council reconsider this issue positively.

The draft resolution, submitted by the UAE and adopted on Friday by a majority of 143 votes, 9 against and 25 abstentions, considers that "Palestine is eligible for membership in the United Nations in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter and should therefore be admitted as a member of the United Nations."

While the decision angered Israel , it was  welcomed by the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries .

Russia, through its permanent representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, stressed that granting Palestine full membership in the United Nations is an opportunity to correct, at least partially, a historical injustice against the long-suffering Palestinian people .

He pointed out that Moscow is convinced that Palestine's membership in the United Nations will contribute to launching equal negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis .