UNITED NATIONS, April 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit Moscow on Apr 26, and will meet with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin following its February invasion of Ukraine, a spokesperson for the UN chief said.
Guterres will also have a working meeting and lunch with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Guterres’ associate spokesperson Eri Kaneko told a press briefing in New York.
“He hopes to talk about what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently,” Kaneko said.
The secretary-general’s office is also working with Ukraine’s government on scheduling and preparations for a visit to Russia’s southern neighbour, the spokesperson said.
Guterres on Tuesday asked Putin to receive him in Moscow and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to receive him in Kyiv, in separate letters handed to their countries’ permanent missions to the United Nations.
Guterres on Tuesday also called for a four-day Orthodox Easter humanitarian pause in fighting in Ukraine beginning on Thursday to allow for the safe passage of civilians from areas of conflict and the delivery of humanitarian aid to hard-hit areas.
“The secretary-general is not so much disappointed that his own personal call was not heeded, but more that there has been no truce, that civilians cannot leave besieged areas and that the aid that the UN and our partners are ready to deliver to these besieged areas cannot go in,” Kaneko said on Friday.
Guterres will further those discussions during his visit to Moscow, the spokesperson added. — NNN-AGENCIES
