“Standard procedure that is important”: UN justifies Secretary-General Guterres' trip to Russia

“A standard procedure that is important”: the UN justifies Secretary-General Guterres' trip to Russia Angelika Baibak

The UN justified Guterres' trip to Kazan/Getty Images

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has arrived in Kazan, Russia. The official came for the BRICS summit and plans to meet with a number of leaders, including war criminal Vladimir Putin.

However, Deputy Speaker of the UN Secretary General Farhan Gak assures that such practice is “standard”. At the same time, he notes that this trip is also “important,” Ukrinform reports.

How the UN justifies Guterres' visit to Russia

Gak stated that Guterres' trip to Russia for the BRICS leaders' meeting is “standard practice.” He stressed that the UN Secretary General's position on Russia's war against Ukraine remains unchanged.

Let me look at these two points – the part that concerns his presence (at the BRICS event – ​​Channel 24), and the part that concerns his meeting with President Putin, – emphasized the representative of Guterres.

In particular, Gak emphasized that Guterres had previously participated in the BRICS summit, although then it was held in South Africa. However, the representative of the UN Secretary General stated that “this is standard practice for participation in meetings of organizations with a large number of important member states, such as the G7 and G20.” Moreover, Gak noted that the meeting in Kazan, Russia, “is of great importance for the UN's work with the BRICS countries, which represent about half of the world's population.”

As for the meeting with Vladimir Putin, the representative of the UN Secretary-General responded with restraint and succinctly.

As for your question about the meeting with President Putin, the Secretary-General will reaffirm his well-known position regarding the war in Ukraine and the conditions for a just peace based on the UN Charter, international law and UN resolutions, Gak said.

According to the representative of Guterres, the Secretary-General will take the opportunity to hold a number of bilateral meetings with the leaders who will participate in the summit. At the same time, Gak said that the UN Secretary General is also looking forward to meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Earlier, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry criticized Guterres' trip to the BRICS summit in Russia. The department recalled that the UN Secretary General declined an invitation to the Peace Summit, which was held in Switzerland, but at the same time accepted an invitation from a war criminal to come to the aggressor country.