UN Secretary-General in Ukraine / Low expectations of Guterres visit
UN Secretary-General Guterres was in Moscow before traveling to Kyiv – to the displeasure of the Ukrainian government. If he does not promise any concrete support during his visit today, he must expect severe criticism.
There is no time for political tourism, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently hinted. Just coming to Kyiv to talk is not enough, he said days ago: “We expect 100 percent support from the UN Secretary-General.” And that means: more pressure on Russia, concrete actions instead of vague advances. However, it is questionable whether the UN Secretary-General will be able to deliver that after his visit to Moscow.
Concrete proposals, but no commitments
Guterres has put concrete proposals on the table with the Russian side. However, he has not received any concrete promises. There was neither a green light for his initiative to set up a contact group to ensure safe, reliable escape corridors from embattled cities, nor for his proposal to join the International Committee of the Red Cross in a rescue operation for people in the hard-fought port city of Mariupol to start.
“The issue is being worked on further, but there are no concrete agreements in this area,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov the day after the meeting between the UN Secretary General and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
UN in contact with Russian Ministry of Defense
UN representatives, explained Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov a little later, are already in contact with the Russian Defense Ministry. “There you will receive the necessary information on how to implement the Secretary General’s request.”
The Ukrainian political scientist Oleh Saakyan believes that nothing could come of this, just as little as he believes that Guterres’ visit will change the situation for the better.
The United Nations, he explained on the Nastoyashchee Vremja radio station, had not been able to secure the world order or stop Russia in all that time. The UN structures have failed completely. “Now the UN nomenklatura is looking for a way to prove that they still exist and that they can still do something.”
Political compulsory event
Even if the UN Secretary-General came with the best of intentions and great suggestions, said Saakjan, the UN initiatives would fail in reality. Because Russia is currently not interested in de-escalation.
The expectations of Guterres’ visit to Kyiv are correspondingly low. There is talk of a compulsory political event. From a formal meeting, at which the UN Secretary-General must reckon with blunt criticism of his itinerary and role.
