This Thursday all eyes on the BRICS meeting in Kazan, Russiawere placed in the expected greeting between the general secretary of the UN, Antonio Guterresand the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. They both shook hands affectionately, despite the fact that They have not met since April 2022two months after the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine; a conflict that continues more than two years later. During his speech, Guterres has briefly named the Ukrainian conflictin which he called for “a just peace in line with the United Nations Charter, international law and the resolutions of the General Assembly.”
The secretary general alluded only on that occasion to the war in Ukraine against Putin and the rest of the leaders of the BRICS+, a political group of emerging economies made up of Brazil, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Russia, India, China, Iran and South Africa. Nevertheless, Both leaders are expected to meet alone throughout the day, a space in which the conflict could be addressed in greater depth.
This meeting had been criticized a few hours earlier by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskywhich alleged that “this was a wrong decision that does not contribute to the cause of peace and that only damages the reputation of the United Nations.” kyiv considers Guterres’ move to be a way to validate Putin’s goal at this summit, which aims show that it still has broad support of the international community.
During the rest of the intervention, Guterres also called for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. “We need peace everywhere. We need peace in Gaza with an immediate ceasefire and an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” he said during the meeting held in the Russian city of Kazan.
He also considered it necessary to “effectively” distribute humanitarian aid and make “irreversible” progress to “end the Israeli occupation” and implement the two-state solution. “We need peace in Lebanon with an immediate cessation of hostilities, moving forward in the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701,” he added. The leaders of Russia, China, Iran and Turkey also advocated during the Kazan meeting for peace in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of “genocide and ethnic cleansing”.
