António Guterres and Sergey Lavrov
(Photo: Maxim Shemetov / PA / TASS)
The statements of the UN Secretary General António Guterres on the situation in Donbass do not correspond to his status, he succumbed to pressure from the West. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, opening talks with the special envoy of the UN Secretary General for Syria, Geir Pedersen. Broadcast available on the Facebook page of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“To our great regret, the UN Secretary General <...> found himself under pressure from the West and recently made several statements about what is happening in eastern Ukraine that do not correspond to his status and his powers under the UN Charter,” Lavrov said.
According to him, in any conflict, the UN secretariat is obliged to maintain impartiality and advocate for direct dialogue between the parties. However, Lavrov stressed, in the situation with Donbass, Guterres “never raised his voice” in favor of the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
The UN called on the parties in the Donbass to restraint
On the eve of February 22, the UN Secretary General said that the situation in Donbass does not fall under the definition of genocide, as Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, had previously called it. According to Guterres, Russia’s recognition of the independence of the Donbass republics is “a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine”, the UN Charter and the Declaration on the Principles of International Law.