Putin to receive UN Secretary-General in Moscow on April 26 — Kremlin spokesman
Antonio Guterres will also have talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Russian President Vladimir Putin will receive UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who will arrive in Moscow on April 26 for talks with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
“On Tuesday, April 26 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will arrive in Moscow for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He will be received by President Vladimir Putin,” Peskov said.
On April 19 Guterres sent messages to the permanent missions of Russia and Ukraine at the United Nations with a request addressed to the presidents of the two countries, Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, for receiving him in their capitals.
According to the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, “the Secretary-General said that at this time of great peril and consequence, he would like to discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine and the future of multilateralism based on the Charter of the United Nations and international law.”
Guterres noted that “both Ukraine and the Russian Federation are founding members of the United Nations and have always been strong supporters of this Organization.”
The announcement came a day after the UN chief called for a four-day humanitarian pause in Ukraine starting from April 21 ahead of Orthodox Christian Easter.
Russia’s first deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyansky, said he was very skeptical about the idea of Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, because Kiev’s forces had repeatedly violated truce in the past. The leader of the Donetsk Republic, Denis Pushilin, has told TASS that Guterres’s idea was fraught with risks, because Kiev’s army has always used ceasefire to regroup forces and fortify positions.
