Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that depriving permanent members of the United Nations Security Council of their veto rights would destroy the world body.
Russia is one of five permanent veto powers at the U.N. who have for years faced pressure to reform the organisation to take account of changes in world demographics and economics since it was formed after World War Two.
But Putin told a gathering of Russia experts that removing veto powers would reduce the world body to a talking shop.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Writing by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
