On Monday, October 21st, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for accepting an invitation from Russian President Putin to attend the BRICS Summit but refusing to participate in the “Peace Summit” regarding the Ukraine conflict.
In a post on a social platform, the Ministry stated, “The United Nations Secretary-General has declined Ukraine’s invitation to participate in the inaugural Global Peace Summit in Switzerland. However, he has accepted a war criminal Putin’s invitation to go to Kazan (to participate in the BRICS Summit). This is a wrong choice that will not promote the cause of peace. It will only harm the reputation of the United Nations.”
Earlier that day, Yuri Ushakov, the foreign policy advisor to the Russian President, announced in a press conference that Guterres would meet with Putin on Wednesday, October 24th during the BRICS Summit to discuss international issues, including the Middle East crisis and the situation in Ukraine.
The United Nations has not confirmed this news yet. If true, it would mark the first visit of the UN Secretary-General to Russia in over two years. Guterres’ last visit to Russia was in April 2022, two months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The sixteenth BRICS Summit is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, October 22nd in the central Russian city of Kazan. Putin aims to demonstrate through this summit that he has not been weakened by Western countries and still holds power. Leaders attending include Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Modi.
However, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farham Haq, when asked if Guterres would attend, stated on Monday, “We will announce his future schedule later.”
In June of this year, at Ukraine’s request, the inaugural Peace Summit was held in a resort in the Swiss Alps, where over ninety countries gathered and jointly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, seeking ways to end the conflict. Russia was not invited and stated that a summit without its participation would be “futile.”
In July, Ukrainian President Zelensky suggested that Russia should send representatives to a second summit aimed at achieving lasting peace with the Kremlin. In September, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced that Russia would not participate in the second Peace Summit scheduled for November this year.
Although the United Nations sent representatives to the first Peace Summit, Guterres had previously stated that he would not attend.
Earlier this month, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that UN Secretary-General Guterres had informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN General Assembly last month of his intention to attend the BRICS Summit in Kazan.
The BRICS organization was established in 2006 and is an international organization composed of emerging market countries. In addition to the original BRICS countries – Russia, Brazil, India, China, and South Africa – six new countries, including Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates, joined the organization at the beginning of 2024.
The fifteenth BRICS Summit last August was held in Johannesburg, South Africa. To evade an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), Putin participated via video link.
(Reference: Reuters)