On Monday, UN Secretary General António Guterres and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in New York at UN headquarters. During the meeting, they discussed the war in Ukraine, the situation in Syria and Afghanistan, as well as the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
The UN Secretary General expressed concern about the obstacles that the Joint Coordination Center has recently encountered in the process of exporting grain from Ukraine through the Black Sea.
Guterres handed Lavrov a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which he proposed ways to solve this problem, aimed at improving and expanding the work of the grain initiative, taking into account the positions of the participating countries and the risks for global food security. Guterres sent the same letters to the heads of two other countries participating in the deal – Ukraine and Turkey.
According to Guterres, he also took into account the Russian Federation’s concerns about obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers.
The US side blames the Russian Federation for hampering the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, in particular for hampering the inspection of ships heading to Ukrainian ports to load grain. The American ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, spoke about it again during a meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, visiting New York, chaired this meeting, because in April Russia, according to the rules of rotation, became the president of the UN Security Council and determines the order of the day of his work.
At the initiative of Russia, a meeting was convened on Monday, the theme of which was “effective multilateralism for the defense of the principles of the United Nations Charter and respect for the interests of all countries of the world without exception”. Thereupon, Lavrov said once again that the “collective West” seeks “hegemony in the world, selectively observes the provisions of the United Nations Charter and disregards Russia’s interests.”
Lavrov believes that the “collective West” prevents the formation of multipolarity in international relations, and that it is necessary to accelerate the reform of the Security Council so that its policy does not prevail over the countries of the West.
António Guterres, who heads the UN as a whole and voices his collective position, said in his speech that Russia itself violated the UN Charter when it illegally invaded the territory of a sovereign state.
“We are facing unprecedented and interconnected crises,” said António Guterres. — The multilateral security system is under the greatest pressure since the creation of the United Nations. The tension between the main states is at an historic level, as well as the risks associated with possible adventures and miscalculations. The Russian invasion of Ukraine , in violation of the United Nations Charter and international law, is having a devastating impact on that country and its people, and exacerbating the economic hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
US Permanent Representative to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield called Russia’s actions “hypocritical”.
“Russia, the state that hypocritically called today’s meeting, has invaded the territory of its neighbour, striking at the very heart of the United Nations Charter and all the values we hold dear,” he said. Linda Thomas-Greenfield. – This is an illegal and unprovoked war, which was not necessary, directly contrary to the principles proclaimed by the UN. Aggression, with the aim of conquering territory, can never be considered acceptable. Even now, this aggression continues: Russian forces continue to kill and injure civilians and destroy critical infrastructure in Ukraine.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, even before the start of the meeting, went to the journalists, accompanied by Elizabeth Whelan, the sister of Paul Whelan, accused of espionage in Russia and sentenced to 16 years in prison. At a Security Council meeting, Thomas-Greenfield turned directly to Lavrov and invited him to look Elizabeth Whelan in the eye.
“I want Minister Lavrov to look her in the eye and see her suffer,” Thomas-Greenfield said. – I want you to feel what it means not to see your brother for four years, knowing that he is sitting in a Russian colony just because you want to use him for your own purposes. I urge you to immediately release Paul Whelan and Evan Hershkowitz. Let them go home! And renounce once and for all this barbaric practice.
The Security Council meeting on multilateralism lasted all day and 49 diplomats from around the world took the floor. On Tuesday, the Security Council will hold a meeting on the Middle East, which will again be chaired by Lavrov.
Although the issue of the war in Ukraine is a priority for the Security Council, no Security Council meeting on this agenda was held under the Russian presidency in April this year.
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