On Monday, The Chief of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres has spoke to the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia and expressed his serious concern over the heightened tensions between the two nations, as per the spokesperson.
Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stated that Guterres had told Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov and the Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dymtro Kuleba, during the telephone talks, that diplomacy was the one and only way forward to resolve this issue. He further told the news reporters that the Secretary-General had expressed his serious concern to both the diplomats over the rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The spokesperson added that Guterres had welcomed the discussions that were ongoing to defuse the tensions and had once again underlined the fact that there was no alternative to diplomacy.
Stephane said that the Secretary-General was convinced that Russia would not invade Ukraine as his previously expressed position at a press conference on January 21. The spokesperson told the reporters that Guterres’ opinion has not changed much in any way.
The Foreign Minister of France, Jean-Yves Le Drian has also warned that all the elements were in place for Russia to wage a major offensive against Ukraine after the deployment of over 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian borders. He said that there was nothing to suggest whether Moscow had taken a decision or not. He further added that there is an untenable military solution with a growing escalation in the region and there was an urgent need for de-escalation. He stated that the Russian President wants to prevent Ukraine from having its sovereignty.
The United Nations Chief was also due to attend a monthly lunch meeting with 15 UNSC (United Nations Security Council) members at the diplomatic mission of Russia, which has the rotating presidency of the council. After the meeting, Guterres is expected to make a statement regarding the issue. The United Nations has around 1660 staff members in Ukraine. 1440 are Ukrainians and 220 foreigners amongst them. Dujarric said that there were no plans for evacuation or relocation of the United Nations staff from Ukraine.
The President of Russia will be receiving the German Chancellor on Tuesday, which will make him the latest leader from the West to go to Russia to seek a breakthrough diplomatically. The United States of America had already warned Russia that any invasion of Ukraine would be imminent and all the Western allies of the nation have also threatened a crippling package of economic sanctions in response to Russia.
The defence minister of Russia has also announced that some of the nation’s massive drills that were going on in Russia and Belarus had come to an end but others said that they were still ongoing. The Russian Foreign Minister had also made a statement saying that there was a chance of reaching an agreement regarding security with the Western agencies.
The UN Security Council is also due to hold an annual meeting on Ukraine and the Minsk agreements, on Thursday, which sought to end the war in the Eastern Donbas region located in Ukraine.