Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

On September 21, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a conversation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the High-Level Week of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. The officials focused on the most challenging international problems and various aspects of cooperation between Russia and the United Nations.

The foreign minister once again underscored the need for the UN leadership and all without exception UN employees to abide by the principles of impartiality and equidistance enshrined in Article 100 of the UN Charter. He called on Antonio Guterres to prevent any involvement of officials representing UN agencies in politicised initiatives in the context of the Ukraine crisis. Attention was focused on the assurances by the UN Secretary-General concerning his intention to refrain from participating in undertakings that did not imply attendance by all parties concerned. Sergey Lavrov also pointed to the inadmissibility of using double standards with regard to different territories in UN statistics and other documents.

They also discussed in detail topics related to the proposed UN reform intended to adapt the United Nations to modern realities with a focus on the Secretary-General’s Our Common Agenda initiative. Foreign Minister Lavrov noted the importance of taking into consideration the entire spectrum of opinions of UN member states while implementing any reform plans. He also said that there was no alternative to preserving the intergovernmental nature of the United Nations, given regard for the division of responsibilities between its main bodies. It was declared that Russia would be most active in relevant discussions at the Summit of the Future in September 2024, including in the work on the Pact for the Future, its final document.

In addition, Foreign Minister Lavrov drew the Secretary-General’s attention to the fact of continued violations by the United States of its obligations under the 1947 Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, including its refusal to issue visas to diplomats from Russia and other countries for participation in UN events. He noted once again that the existing situation dictated the need for Antonio Guterres to launch an arbitration procedure against the United States as soon as possible, something that was repeatedly stated in related UNGA resolutions.

The minister handed over to the UN Secretary-General a book entitled Ukrainian Crimes against Humanity (2022-2023) by Maxim Grigoryev, member of the Russian Civic Chamber and Director of the Foundation for the Study of Democracy, as well as a video of the call of the girl from Lugansk Faina Savenkova to the United Nations to do everything to stop shelling of peaceful cities by Ukraine.