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Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

25 April 2023 03:14
784-25-04-2023

On April 24, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York City on the sidelines of events held as part of Russia's presidency of the UN Security Council in April. The Minister thanked the Secretary-General for taking part in a key meeting of the UN Security Council under the Russian presidency on 'Effective Multilateralism through the defence of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.'

Various aspects of Russia-UN cooperation, as well as key issues of the international agenda, were discussed in great detail.

The focus of the discussion was the situation in and around Ukraine. The Minister once again set forth a highly detailed assessment of the root causes of the current crisis, and the pace and goals of the special military operation that aims to eliminate threats to Russia's national security. He sternly criticised the behaviour of Western states that use the UN to advance politically motivated anti-Russia initiatives that can only prolong the current crisis.

He urged the UN leadership to unfailingly honour the fundamental principles of unbiased and equidistant conduct, as stipulated by Article 100 of the UN Charter.

Sergey Lavrov also drew special attention to the failure of the United States to fulfil its obligations under the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations. This included failure to issue visas to Russian representatives, due to attend various UN events, the illegal sequestration of Russian diplomatic property and the introduction of travel restrictions on Russian diplomats. He once again emphasised that Antonio Guterres must launch arbitration proceedings with regard to the United States as soon as possible, as prescribed under numerous UN General Assembly resolutions on the issue.

They exchanged detailed opinions on several topical issues reviewed by the UN Security Council, including the situation in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian settlement. Sergey Lavrov and Antonio Guterres agreed that there was no alternative to constructive interaction between all UNSC members in order to overcome these and other crisis situations.

Substantial attention was devoted to issues of implementing the July 2022 Istanbul agreements for exporting Ukrainian foodstuffs and facilitating the unimpeded access of Russian agricultural and fertiliser exports to the global market. Sergey Lavrov noted that, despite the fact that these agreements form an interlinked package, there has so far been no headway in fulfilling the memorandum between Russia and the UN Secretariat against the backdrop of stable Ukrainian grain deliveries.

Sergey Lavrov and Antonio Guterres noted the importance of strengthening the UN's central coordinating role in global politics still further and promoting genuine multilateralism that relies on the fundamental norms of international law, including the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.