The United States and the United Kingdom want to drag Antonio Guterres to their games, Sergey Lavrov told RT and Sputnik
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is under great pressure from the United States and its allies over the issue of Ukrainian grain stuck in Black Sea ports, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with RT and Sputnik on Wednesday. .
“They blame us for using hunger as a weapon” by the West, Lavrov said, dismissing such accusations as “lying.”
Russian food and fertilizer products may not be directly subject to the extensive restrictions placed on the country by its military operation in Ukraine, but they still cannot be exported due to “Insurance, shipping, our vessels that are supposed to enter foreign ports and foreign vessels that are supposed to enter Russian ports to transport those products, that was sanctioned almost immediately.” He explained. And the United States and its allies now “they want to drag the UN Secretary General into their games”, Lavrov said.
In late April, Guterres “I was very worried about the food crisis”, it is believed to be largely due to the absence of Russian and Ukrainian grain on the market due to the conflict between the neighbors, and he came to Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin, the senior diplomat recalled. According to the minister, during these negotiations the UN chief offered Putin “a package”. Guterres promised “make the US lift all impediments in the way of its [Russian] grain” in exchange for Moscow – along with Turkey and other nations – removing the mines placed by kyiv in the Black Sea to allow Ukrainian grain to leave the ports and reach its customers, he said.
Moscow agreed to those terms, and Guterres promoted the deal for the past two months.
Last week, Russian diplomats traveled to Istanbul in Turkey to discuss ways to implement the UN chief’s plan. “They agreed on some basic principles, according to which Ukrainian grain would be exported. And when our delegation recalled the second part of this global agreement [regarding Russian grain]… the Ukrainians categorically refused. And the UN delegations modestly kept silent.” Lavrov revealed.
When Moscow contacted Guterres about this development, the UN chief responded by suggesting that “First we will deal with the Ukrainian side and then we will deal with the Russian side,” according to FM.
“But that is so wrong, so dishonest for people who are involved in high-level politics,” Lavrov insisted.
However, he expressed his belief that it was probably not Guterres’ choice to behave in such a way. “The secretary general is under great pressure from the US and the UK, who are sitting in the secretariat around him, holding MP positions. And they have basically privatized this structure. [the UN] and they use it in their interest, which is sad”, the minister pointed out. During the interview, Lavrov also responded to comments on Monday by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who claimed that Moscow “armed” economic integration. He has also threatened nations seeking closer trade ties with Russia, including China, with harsh consequences.
“It’s better than anything else they [the US] used to say. But it is they who are dying because they have no other explanation for their failures. the chancellor insisted.