Russian President Vladimir Putin and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are due to hold a highly anticipated meeting on Ukraine on Thursday, on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Kazan, Russia.
The two men have not spoken on Russian soil since April 2022. At the time, two months after the launch of the assault on Ukraine by Moscow’s troops, the Russian president told Antonio Guterres that he believed in a way out « positive » of talks.
Since then, Moscow and kyiv have ceased all official negotiations and their positions currently seem irreconcilable. The fighting rages on and the prospect of negotiations remains very hypothetical.
Russian troops are gaining ground and the Kremlin welcomed Wednesday“a positive dynamic on the front”.
Announced by the Kremlin, the meeting is to be held in the evening, after this Brics summit, a grouping which brings together nine countries representing almost half of the world’s population and almost a third of the planet’s GDP.
Without formally confirming these interviews, the UN announced that the Secretary General “intended” to meet the Russian president.
A Kazan, “the secretary general will reaffirm his well-known positions on the war in Ukraine and the conditions for a just peace based on the charter and resolutions of the United Nations and international law”underlined one of its spokespersons, Farhan Haq.
Antonio Guterres, who is also due to speak to summit participants, has regularly stressed that the annexation of territories had no “no place in the modern world”.
Regarding possible mediation, Antonio Guterres “stands ready to offer its services when the different parties are favorable”. “He will continue to monitor the situation and see when it is adequate”a dit Farhan Haq.
Russian President Vladimir Putin between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (l) and Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Brics summit in Kazan, central Russia, October 23, 2024 / Alexander Zemlianichenko / POOL/AFP
In Kazan, mediation offers from partner countries were welcomed “favorably by the Russian president”its spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said on Wednesday.
On the first day of the BRICS summit, several officials called for an end to the fighting and the opening of talks.
Like that in the Middle East, the conflict in Ukraine has “the potential to become global”warned Brazilian President Lula, speaking by videoconference.
Vladimir Putin’s main supporter in the face of Western sanctions, Chinese President Xi Jinping, has asked to ensure“calm the situation as quickly as possible”.
“Multipolar world”
The day before, Indian Prime Minister Modi, ensuring he was in contact with both parties, had expressed his support for all “efforts to quickly restore peace and stability”.
Both China and India have never condemned – nor recognized – the annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia.
Lula attracted strong criticism in Ukraine and the West for asserting that responsibilities for the conflict were shared, even if he condemned the Russian assault of February 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the podium during the BRICS in Kazan, Russia, October 23, 2024 / Alexander NEMENOV / POOL/AFP
The calls made to Kazan are not likely to meet the expectations of the European Union, which has urged the heads of state and government of the Brics to put their partner Vladimir Putin on notice to “immediately end the war he is waging against the Ukrainian people”.
On his way to Kazan, Mr. Guterres made a “bad choice” Who “only damages the reputation of the UN”lamented kyiv.
With this Brics meeting, Vladimir Putin intends to demonstrate the failure of the Western policy of sanctions and isolation of his country, particularly with countries belonging to what is often described as the « Sud global ».
He had bilateral meetings with representatives of the beasts of the West, the Iranian Massoud Pezeshkian and the Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro, and spoke with Xi Jinping, president of China, the main rival of the United States on the international scene.
Vladimir Putin shares with the latter a desire to defeat the“hegemony” supposed role of the West in global diplomatic relations.
In order to avoid the domination of the dollar in commercial payments, he is also pushing for the creation of an international payment platform alternative to Swift from which the main Russian banks have been excluded in 2022.
On Wednesday, he wanted to see in the Brics summit organized in his country the emergence of “multipolar world” which he calls for in the face of the West.
With four members (Brazil, Russia, India, China) when it was created in 2009 and having joined South Africa in 2010, the bloc now known as the Brics (the initials of these states in English) was joined this year by the Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates).