Russia to outline ‘contours of a new world order’ as UN Security Council chair

Russian officials intend to discuss the “contours of a new world order” in the coming month, indicating Moscow and Beijing’s efforts to spread their influence at the United Nations.

“Our idea is to hold a comprehensive, forward-looking strategic discussion about the contours of a new world order that is coming to replace the unipolar one,” Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia, the top Russian envoy at the UN, told state media. “This conversation is long overdue.”

Ambassador Nebenzia will lead this initiative since Russia will take over as the rotating president of the UN Security Council, allowing the country to outline the forum’s agenda for the month of April. Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a new foreign policy agenda just before Nebenzia’s team gained control of the Security Council agenda. 

The Chinese General Secretary, Xi Jinping, earlier stated that both nations are working on “changes – the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years.” However, it has elicited an international backlash against their efforts to transform the global arena.

“China sees Putin’s weakness as a way to increase its leverage over Russia. And it is clear the power balance in that relationship, which for most of the last century favored Russia, has now reversed,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this week. 

This topic has emerged due to the intensification of the war in Ukraine and the UN General Assembly’s actions, where many countries located in the Global South have become geopolitical swing voters. Russia and China have gained some support in these countries invoking Western imperialism’s memory. 

India, a significant purchaser of Russian weapons and now a critical partner in the Indo-Pacific, was slow to denounce Russia’s aggression, causing frustration among Western states. However, Putin’s dependence on Xi might improve India’s collaboration with the US and European countries, given India’s border dispute with China.

There are others who believe that India cannot do anything or offer anything that will get Russia to remain neutral in the event of a China-India eruption,” an Indian foreign policy analyst noted.

Nevertheless, Putin’s team continues to acknowledge the importance of developing a strategic partnership with Russia’s neighbors, China, India, countries of the Islamic world, and more, as an essential resource to achieve its goals.

India might use diplomatic rhetoric similar to Moscow’s call for “multipolarity” while cooperating more with the US and its allies, despite having concerns about China’s dominance in the Global South.

“Essentially, what India wants is greater representation space for itself, vis-a-vis the West and established powers in the developed world, but also it is driven equally by concerns about China and China’s dominance of the Global South,” the Indian analyst said.