UN Secretary General in Moscow
Guterres does not get any further with Lavrov
4/26/2022, 6:04 p.m
UN Secretary-General Guterres is on a mediation trip in the Ukraine war. On his first stop in Moscow, a meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov revealed “differing interpretations” of the situation in Ukraine. A meeting with President Putin is also pending.
During a visit to Moscow, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the Russian leadership to end the war against Ukraine. He came as “an ambassador of peace,” said the UN chief at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ahead of a talk with President Vladimir Putin planned in the Kremlin. An urgent ceasefire is needed. The 72-year-old emphasized that he had an interest in doing everything possible to end the war and the suffering of the people.
The war is causing “shock waves” and is already having an impact on food and energy prices worldwide, Guterres warned. It is therefore necessary to conduct dialogue and reach a ceasefire in order to find the conditions for a peaceful solution to the conflict. “We are in favor of a negotiated solution,” replied Russia’s chief diplomat Lavrov, who himself once represented his country at the United Nations. Lavrov and Guterres have known each other for decades and are the same age; the Russian diplomat speaks of a comradely relationship with the Portuguese. That is why Lavrov is also covering up the UN chief’s sharp criticism of the war of aggression, which violates international law. Guterres complains that it is not Ukraine that has soldiers in Russia, but Russian soldiers are in Ukraine. “I can confirm that,” says Lavrov kindly.
Guterres wants war crimes investigation
During their hour-long talks, however, the two diplomats are no closer to a solution to the conflict over Ukraine. When asked by journalists, Guterres advocated an independent investigation into war crimes in Ukraine. And he proposed the creation of a trilateral group to solve humanitarian problems, consisting of representatives of the UN, Kiev and Moscow. This contact group can ensure the safety of escape corridors, he said. He stressed the need to create a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians from the besieged southeastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol and the Azovstal Steel Plant there.
Lavrov, in turn, accused Ukraine of not seriously pursuing negotiations about the steel plant and an end to the fighting. Rather, the goal of the Ukrainian leadership is to keep up the pressure on Russia. This happens through the arms deliveries from the West to Ukraine. “If things continue like this, the negotiations are unlikely to produce any results,” Lavrov said. Russia will continue to view the weapons supplied by the West there as a military target.
Lavrov: It’s still too early for mediators
On the question of the possible use of mediators in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Lavrov said: “It’s too early for that.” With regard to the United States, he criticized that the West is now only concerned with defeating Russia – and creating a monopolar world in which only one country dictates the rules. Guterres, in turn, emphasized that the United Nations stands for a multipolar world, which Russia also wants. In Moscow, Guterres also expressly expressed his regret that the United Nations had not been involved in the implementation of the Minsk peace plan for eastern Ukraine.
They could and should have participated in the “Normandy Format”, in which France and Germany mediated in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The agreement also served as the basis for a UN resolution to resolve the conflict. Lavrov had previously criticized the West for not taking care of the implementation of the Minsk agreement. In addition, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy unilaterally terminated the agreements.
The UN chief said that the resolutions are binding. However, he made it clear that there were other methods than war to achieve the goals. The UN Secretary-General now wants to travel to Ukraine via Poland, where he will meet Selenskyj on Thursday. Guterres has recently come under pressure to take a more active role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24.