Russia calls on all UN member states to support Palestine’s application to become a full member of the United Nations, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the world body Dmitry Polyansky said on Monday.
"We urge the entire international community to support Palestine’s application to membership at the UN," Polyansky said.
Earlier, Palestine formally asked the UN Security Council to consider its application for UN membership, which was supported by the Arab Group, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Non-Aligned Movement.
Countries with permanent observer status can attend most meetings and have access to almost all relevant documents, but they do not have voting rights. Apart from Palestine, only the Vatican has permanent observer status at the UN.
The process of admission of a country to the UN membership, as indicated on the website of the organization, is carried out by a decision of the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.
In order to receive a recommendation from the Security Council, 9 out of 15 members of the Security Council must vote in favor of the country's application, provided that none of the permanent members of the body (the UK, China, Russia, the US and France) votes against it.
Polyansky said earlier that Russia is in favor of Palestine becoming a permanent member of the UN as soon as possible.