The conflict in Ukraine at the center of the possible Putin-Guterres meeting

The Russian president Vladimir Putin will meet the United Nations Secretary General on Thursday Antonio Guterres to discuss the conflict in Ukraine, in the UN chief’s first trip to Russia in more than two years. The announcement comes from the Kremlin. The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, a forum that Moscow hopes to use to demonstrate to the West that attempts to isolate Russia after the offensive in Ukraine have failed. “It is expected that, together with the activities of the UN, current issues on the international agenda will be addressed, including the crisis in the Middle East and the situation in Ukraine,” reads a note from the Kremlin. The UN has not confirmed the planned meeting and Ukraine has strongly criticized Guterres’ decision to meet Putin.

Asked whether Guterres planned to travel to Kazan later in the week, his deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters: “Announcements about his future travels will be made later“. Guterres has repeatedly criticized Moscow’s military offensive on Ukraine and said it sets a “dangerous precedent” for the world, but the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said meeting Putin now “does not contribute to the cause of peace” and “It damages the reputation of the United Nations.” “The UN Secretary-General declined Ukraine’s invitation to the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland. Instead, he accepted war criminal Putin’s invitation to Kazan,” the ministry said in a post on X. Guterres called for a “just peace” that respects international law and Ukraine’s “territorial integrity”. During his last visit in April 2022, two months after Russia launched the offensive, Guterres had discussed with Putin some proposals for humanitarian assistance and the evacuation of civilians from conflict zones, according to what was reported in a United Nations report on the meeting.

To date there are no signs that Kiev and Moscow are still open to broader talks on a deal to end the war that has been going on for two and a half years now. Putin called on Ukraine to capitulate by abandoning other territories in the south and east of the country as a precondition for a ceasefire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he refused to accept the cession of territories to secure a peace settlement and ruled out direct talks with Putin. Speaking at the United Nations last month, Zelensky told the Security Council – of which Russia is a permanent member – that Moscow “can only be forced into peace”.