Russia’s Lavrov at UNGA recognizing the world moving faster than its institutions
By Kester Kenn Klomegah, Moscow Bureau Chief, The Diplomatic Society
29 September 2026
On the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has intensified Russia’s coordination with African leaders, re-emphasising the importance of reforms while undertaking strategic steps towards transforming and reshaping Africa’s architecture to ensure economic sovereignty within the framework of an emerging multipolarity.
Foreign Minister Lavrov explicitly maintains that countries of the Global South and East are asserting themselves as sovereign centres of growth and are assuming responsibility for ensuring security in their respective regions. Russia’s foreign policy is intended to support Africa’s growth and future prosperity, with adequate preparations and strategically selected African leaders, regional heads and other individuals identified for interaction at the 81st UNGA in New York.
Geopolitics: Is BRICS Challenging the West?
Perhaps, Lavrov prioritises BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — and its African partner states. BRICS, which is described as a non-political association, guides its members in structuring the emerging new global order. Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa are members, while Nigeria and Uganda are partner states. Lavrov shared his thoughts with the Vice-President of the Republic of Uganda, Jessica Alupo, and Nigerian Vice-President Kashim Shettima.
Lavrov held separate discussions with Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa, which are BRICS members. He also met with Nigeria and Uganda, which are partner states of BRICS. For multiple reasons, Egypt seemingly has the most strategic relations with Russia. In practical terms, the collective decision to pursue development projects, including the $28 billion Russian-backed nuclear plants already in progress in Egypt, demonstrates the breadth of this relationship.
Beyond that, Moscow and Cairo reviewed matters relating to multifaceted bilateral cooperation, with a focus on maintaining active momentum in political dialogue between Russia and Egypt, while also stepping up trade and economic cooperation and carrying out large-scale bilateral infrastructure projects. They went on to reaffirm the imperative need to ensure and coordinate their positions on foreign policy matters, including at the United Nations and other international platforms.
As an association, BRICS has played an advocacy role in recent years. BRICS has emphasised collective support for a multipolar world order and reforms to the United Nations, including its Security Council, as well as global financial institutions such as the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Furthermore, as BRICS-African members, South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia have indicated high aspirations to build an alternative order to the West, wielding power to challenge Western hegemony.
Therefore, in close collaboration with these African delegations visiting the UNGA in New York, officials discussed issues relating to the further development of multifaceted ties, with a focus on maintaining active political dialogue and expanding cooperation in trade, the economy, humanitarian affairs and other areas. They also exchanged views on current international and regional issues, while considering other emerging questions relating to BRICS, geopolitical developments and its future.
Founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, BRICS has since expanded to 11 members, representing about half of the world’s population and a significant share of global economic output. It has sought greater representation for developing countries in global institutions and promoted alternatives to Western-dominated financial systems.
Russia’s Relations with ECOWAS, Maghreb and the Arab League
Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates of the Kingdom of Morocco, Nasser Bourita; Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, the National Community Abroad and African Affairs of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, Ahmed Attaf; Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Egyptian Expatriates of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Badr Abdelatty; and a delegation from the Arab League were among those involved in discussions.
With the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Nabil Fahmy, discussions focused on strengthening cooperation between Russia and the Arab League, with particular emphasis on revitalising existing bilateral mechanisms, including the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum.
They also held a substantive exchange of views on current developments in the Middle East, focusing on the volatile situation in the Gulf region resulting from US-Israeli aggression against Iran. The discussion also covered the crises surrounding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as well as developments in Lebanon and Syria.
The North African ministers reaffirmed their collective commitment to maintaining effective foreign policy coordination on current regional issues, including with a view to resolving the Western Sahara issue and other ongoing conflicts through political and diplomatic means, based on the universally recognised principles of international law and the UN Charter.
ECOWAS Chairmanship
Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye currently holds the chairmanship of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In considering key topics of world and regional politics, including the context of Senegal’s current ECOWAS chairmanship, the parties reaffirmed the proximity of Moscow’s and Dakar’s principled approaches to most contemporary problems.
Russian Tourism and Recreation: Seychelles and Maldives
Lavrov’s meetings with Republic of Maldives Foreign Minister Iruthisham Adam and Patrick Herminie of the Republic of Seychelles centred on prospects for further developing multifaceted relations between Russia, on the one side, and the Maldives and Seychelles, on the other.
The common ground was to sustain the conditions already established for promoting Russian tourism to the islands. Both sides expressed interest in maintaining regular political dialogue and expanding practical cooperation in a range of areas, including tourism.
Reports confirm that both the Maldives and Seychelles are large-scale mass destinations. Statistics show that Russian citizens in 2025 increased by 16% year-on-year to reach 20.1 million in the Maldives. Tourist traffic from Russia to Seychelles is steadily growing, by as much as 15% compared with the previous year, reaching an estimated 1.5 million in 2025.
Reviewing the Peace and Security Outlook with African Representatives
Lavrov underlined Russia’s contributions towards establishing peace and stability, generally, in the Sahel states during a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Mali, Abdoulaye Diop. He also stressed traditionally strong Russian-Malian relations, with a specific focus on expanding trade, economic and investment ties in the context of the decisions adopted following the second meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Bilateral Cooperation held in Kazan in May 2026.
Further to that, on 25 September, Lavrov held a broader meeting with the three foreign ministers of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES): Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso, Karamoko Traoré; Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Mali, Abdoulaye Diop; and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Nigeriens Abroad of the Republic of Niger, Bakary Yaou Sangaré.
The meeting focused on a wide range of issues concerning priority areas of cooperation within the Russia-AES dialogue — political, economic, financial, transport and logistics, and information — with particular emphasis on preparations for the third Russia-Africa Summit, due to be held in Moscow on 28–29 October.
A candid exchange of views took place regarding the situation in the Sahara-Sahel region. The parties reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening foreign policy coordination at the UN and other international platforms.
Lavrov’s Common Language with António Guterres
During the meeting between Lavrov and UN Secretary-General António Guterres, both reviewed the continental situation in terms of peace and security developments, suggested strategic coordination and multilateral support, while complementing and harmonising existing mechanisms in the spirit of geopolitical realism and Africa’s expectations.
Libya, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia are still experiencing conflicts. Sudan remains in a devastating situation, while French-speaking West African countries, especially Mali and Niger, continue to experience ethnic fighting in the region.
Renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia is drawing in the country’s disputes with Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea, raising fears that its internal conflict could spread across the region. Ethiopia’s army chief has accused Egypt and Sudan of supporting a new alliance of armed groups trying to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, saying the groups could not succeed unless they were “pushed, supported and supplied” from abroad.
The alliance brings together seven groups, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the Oromo Liberation Army and the Amhara Fano National Movement. Its members say they want to remove Abiy’s government and establish a transitional administration.
At the General Assembly, Lavrov underlined the fact that in African countries such as Libya, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia, ethnic conflicts continue to rage. He said that the UNSC, together with the African Union and regional blocs, must take urgent and unconventional steps to reverse these trends on the continent.
“Our principled approach is that a reform of the Security Council cannot provide any extra seats to the Western countries — especially Germany and Japan — that have taken the path of militarisation and revanchism. We advocate solely for the expansion of representation by Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and support candidates from Brazil and India for permanent seats, while the interests of the African continent shall be met with due account for the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration,” Lavrov pointed out in his speech at the session on the peace and security architecture and Africa.
Still Whistling on Reforms and UN Restructuring
The Security Council has 15 members: five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — and 10 members elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. The five permanent members hold veto power, allowing any one of them to block a substantive Council resolution.
Ultimately, the reform process has stalled. The General Assembly launched the intergovernmental negotiations process on Security Council reform in 2008. Currently, there is no African country with a permanent seat. This remains a work in progress. Nigeria wants its own seat, as do Egypt and South Africa.
Yet Africa remains central to much of the Council’s work. In 2025, the Council adopted 44 resolutions, including 24 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which covers measures such as sanctions and authorisations for the use of force. Eighteen of those 24 Chapter VII resolutions concerned Africa.
For Professor Ibrahim Gambari, a former Nigerian foreign minister and former Nigerian permanent representative to the UN, the issue is not simply one of geography.
“The status quo is not really interested in change,” he told Al Jazeera. “In the appointment of the Secretary-General, you cannot be a candidate unless each of the five permanent members agrees. Therefore, we have the privilege of the unelected P5, which they don’t want to relinquish.”
The General Assembly launched the intergovernmental negotiations process on Security Council reform in 2008. The talks cover the Council’s size, membership categories, regional representation and the veto, and have continued through successive General Assembly sessions without agreement on the core questions.
Changing the Council’s permanent membership would also require an amendment to the UN Charter. Under Article 108, that requires approval by two-thirds of the General Assembly and ratification by two-thirds of UN members, including all five permanent members.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres used his final address to the General Assembly to renew his call for Security Council reform, saying it must become more representative and better reflect today’s geopolitical realities. The renewed calls highlight the scale of Africa’s demand. But translating them into an agreement that changes the Council’s structure remains a far more difficult task.
Ghana’s President John Mahama made a similar appeal: “Security Council reform is not a favour to Africa; it is an imperative for the legitimacy, credibility and survival of the United Nations.”
Nigeria’s Vice-President Kashim Shettima, delivering President Bola Tinubu’s national statement, called for at least two permanent seats for Africa, with veto powers for as long as the veto exists, as well as five non-permanent seats for the continent.
Background
France presided over the UN Security Council in September. It used its advantage to make the meeting on the situation in Ukraine on 23 September the central event of its UNSC presidency.
Russia highlighted what it described as Ukraine’s continuing “Nazification” at meetings during the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly until 26 September. Russia and China opposed this approach to treating the UNSC, which is a collegial body.
The Secretariat, under António Guterres, has in effect admitted that it has been unable to perform its functions of safeguarding normal working conditions for UN permanent missions.
African representatives, in their political statements, called for a complete departure from observance of the basic norms and principles of the Organisation’s Charter, opening a new future page for the United Nations.
The added Security Council paragraph is supported by Russia’s stated UN position and by the UN’s own 2026 reform documentation, which records broader support for correcting Africa’s historical under-representation.