UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Russia on Wednesday to attend this week’s BRICS summit, his first visit to the country in more than two years.
Russia is hosting the three-day summit in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan, where the speaker of the regional legislative assembly greeted Guterres after his plane landed at the city’s airport.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry slammed the visit, saying the UN chief made the “wrong choice that does not advance the cause of peace” after earlier rejecting an invitation to attend Kyiv’s peace summit in Switzerland.
The United Nations maintains that BRICS — a nine-member organization that includes China and India — holds “great importance” given the bloc represents almost half the world’s population.
Guterres is expected to deliver a speech at the BRICS summit, his deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters Tuesday.
He also plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, where he will “reaffirm his well-known positions on the war in Ukraine and the conditions for just peace based on the UN Charter.”
“He will continue to pursue his efforts to re-establish safe navigation in the Black Sea, which is critically important for global food and energy security, especially for the most vulnerable countries around the world,” Haq said.
Guterres will visit Ukraine at a “mutually convenient time,” he added.
BRICS takes its name from the first letters of the five original members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The group expanded earlier this year to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
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