Ukraine: UN Secretary-General meets with Putin in Moscow and demands “stop the war now”

The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterresarrived in Moscow on Tuesday for an appointment with Vladimir Putin with a claim under the arm: end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible.

The United Nations is ready to do everything possible to “end the war in Ukraine,” he declared at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, shortly before meeting with Putin.

“We are very interested at this time in the making do everything possible to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, and do everything possible to alleviate people’s suffering and reduce the impact on vulnerable groups in other parts of the world, ”he said at the start of the meeting with Lavrov.

The UN secretary general assured that the world today is faced with “a complex situation in Ukraine, with different interpretations about what is happening there.”

“But there is no limit to the possibility of conducting dialogue very serious about how to reduce people’s suffering, ”he said.

Guterres said the UN was “very interested in finding ways to create conditions for an effective dialogue, for a ceasefire as soon as possible, to create conditions for a peaceful solution.”

Russia’s rejection

Lavrov replied “no”.

Lavrov denied the need for international intermediaries in negotiations in Ukraine.

“Talking about mediators at the current stage, in my view, it’s too early“, Lavrov said at a joint press conference.

Lavrov stressed that the Ukrainian delegation itself has never raised this possibility since the President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, offered Moscow to open negotiations. Regarding reaching an agreement at the negotiating table, he assured: “Yes, we favor (…), if anyone has any interesting ideasWe are ready to listen to it. “

“But how the Ukrainian delegation acted in the negotiations, how President Zelensky acted … of course, frustrating. Supposedly, they are not particularly interested in negotiations“, he added. The head of Russia’s diplomacy recalled that Moscow is still waiting for kyiv’s response to the settlement proposal it sent” 10-12 days ago “.

He accused the West of continuing Ukraine’s cramming line “large amount” of weapons. “If it continues, of course, the negotiations almost never get any results“, he warned, as his country continues to bomb the civilian population in Ukraine, especially a steel mill in Mariupol, where families and soldiers are fighting.

Russia’s position seems to invalidate the UN’s proposal to create a Contact Group with Russia and Ukraine to guarantee the validity of the humanitarian corridors in the conflict zone.

“I proposed the creation of a Humanitarian Contact Group uniting the UN, Russia and Ukraine, to look at the possibilities of opening safe humanitarian corridors with a local ceasefire to ensure that they are really effective, ”he said at the press conference.

Guterres acknowledged the existence of “a crisis in Mariupol, where hundreds thousands of civilians are in need of humanitarian aidmany need to be evacuated. “

“The UN is ready to mobilize all its human and logistical resources to rescue the people of Mariupol,” he said.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations proposed “to coordinate the work and efforts of the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Ukraine and Russia to guarantee the safe evacuation of civilians who want to leave Azovstal and the city in whatever direction they want. “

“My agenda is exclusively linked to the saving of lives and the alleviation of suffering“, he indicated while describing the conversations with Lavrov as very sincere.

two positions

However, he found that “it is quite clear that there are two different positions on what is happening in Ukraine.”

“According to Russia, it’s about a special military operation along with the announced objectives. According to the UN and in correspondence with the resolution of the General Assembly, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a violation of the integrity of the territory of a country that contradicts UN laws, ”he said.

So, he said, “the faster peace comes, the better. This is in the interest of Ukraine, Russia, and the rest of the world.”

Guterres, who made sure he came to Moscow “as a messenger of peace”, He pointed out that this conflict extends beyond Ukraine, “because the echoes are observed in other parts of the world.”

“The catastrophic acceleration of food and fuel prices which has been happening in the past year, is causing great suffering to hundreds of millions of the most vulnerable people in the world, ”he said.

According to Guterres, this increases the covid impact and diverts the resources needed for recovery after a pandemic, “which has hit developing countries particularly sharply.”

Agencies

ap