"For us, our draft resolution against militarization of space will be of particular importance," Vitaly Churkin said Tuesday as the 63d session of the General Assembly opened Tuesday at the UN headquarters in New York.

The Russian delegation will also introduce a draft resolution condemning the glorification of Nazism and address the issue of assisting international development.

Ambassador Churkin said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would deliver a speech at the General Assembly session on September 29, as part of the general debate during which over 120 heads of states, government and other top officials address the gathering.

The minister will also attend a conference on the development goals of the 2000 UN Millennium Declaration.

During the session, the General Assembly will also discuss Security Council reform. On Monday, the General Assembly agreed to begin talks to expand the membership of the Security Council "not later than February 28, 2009."

"Russia thinks that the Security Council should become more [geographically] representative and reflect, to a greater degree, the realities of the 21st century, not those of 1945, when it was founded," Churkin said. "We will try to study all options, but it will not be easy to find a formula that would suit everyone."

The Council currently has 10 rotating nonpermanent members and five veto-wielding permanent ones - China, the United States, France, Britain and Russia. One proposed variant of the reform is to invite more members - G4 nations Japan, Germany, India and Brazil, and an African country.

Another possibility was to introduce semi-permanent membership in the council.

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