"Obviously, both Putin and Lukashenko take advantage of Guterres’ visit for their propaganda. An official like the UN secretary general should realise that hugs with dictators who had started the war is a gift not only to Putin and Lukashenko but also to all of the world’s dictators. Thus, this visit really cannot be called as safeguarding democracy, it discredits the entire UN," Čmilytė-Nielsen stated to ELTA in a written comment.
The parliament speaker was also surprised that the UN secretary general travelled to Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin despite the International Criminal Court having issued his arrest warrant over war crimes in Ukraine.
"Unfortunately, since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion [of Ukraine] in 2022 we have seen that international institutions, which have to protect democratic, rules- and international law-based order, fail to pass the test at the time when their role should be to stop aggression and dictators, instead of giving them a chance to show off by hugging with the UN secretary general. As if the international arrest warrant over Putin’s war crimes does not exist," stated Čmilytė-Nielsen.
Guterres arrived to Kazan, Russia, to attend the BRICS summit. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since April 2022, weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine. Meetings with Putin and Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko drew criticism as Guterres did not attend the Ukraine peace summit held in Switzerland and sent a pre-recorded video message to the international conference for Lebanon.