Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet with United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres in New York next Monday, official sources told Lusa on Thursday.
António Guterres’ deputy spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed that the meeting is scheduled for next week, after Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, took the meeting for granted in statements to Russian television channel Rossiya-24.
“We will try to give details after the meeting”Haq added, talking to Lusa.
According to Nebenzya, several topics will be discussed, including the Black Sea grain agreement.
Serguei Lavrov will be in New York next week to chair two debates on multilateralism and the Middle East as part of Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council.
In early April, Russia assumed the rotating monthly presidency of the Security Council after announcing two events during its leadership: an open debate on arms and military equipment exports; and a ministerial-level debate, chaired by Lavrov, entitled “Effective Multilateralism through Upholding the Principles of the UN Charter”, with a briefing by Guterres.
In addition to participating in the debate on multilateralism scheduled for Monday, Russia’s foreign minister will chair the following day’s quarterly debate on the situation in the Middle East, focusing on the Palestine issue.
Russia (one of the five permanent members of the Security Council with veto power) this month assumed the rotating presidency of the body, which has the capacity to pass binding resolutions.
In recent weeks, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sergiy Kyslytsya has publicly appealed to the organization not to allow the Russian presidency, but to no avail.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: DN
