The UN Secretary General’s presence is a demonstration of contempt for the victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Amid international isolation, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is not spoilt by visits from foreign leaders, is preparing with special care for the BRICS summit to be held in Kazan on 22-24 October.
Not only leaders of the BRICS member states will gather in the capital of Tatarstan, but also invited guests. According to Yuri Ushakov, the BRICS summit will be attended by representatives of 32 countries, 24 of which will be represented by their leaders.
Among the summit participants, a special guest is expected — UN Secretary General António Guterres, for whom the Kremlin is already preparing a warm welcome. Although the UN Secretary General’s office does not comment on his future visit, Guterres’ arrival was announced by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, and later confirmed by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Who will attend the BRICS Summit in Kazan
- Leaders of all 9 member countries are expected.
- 36 heads of state have been invited.
Confirmed participants (as of October 8, 2024):
- Xi Jinping – President of China
- Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – President of Brazil
- Narendra Modi – Prime Minister of India
- Cyril Ramaphosa – President of South Africa
- Abdel Fattah el-Sisi – President of Egypt
- Masoud Pezeshkian – President of Iran
- Abiy Ahmed – Prime Minister of Ethiopia
- Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan – President of the UAE
- António Guterres – UN Secretary-General
- Alexander Lukashenko – President of Belarus
But does Guterres calculate the risks of his participation in the BRICS summit? Or does he no longer care about his own reputation or the image of the organisation he represents?
For the Kremlin, the Kazan summit is a platform for Putin to demonstrate that he is not in international isolation. It is a platform where he is trying to unite the countries of the Global South around Russia. A platform on which he is trying, together with Xi Jinping, to build an anti-Western bloc.
But at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Putin is also going to push through an alternative Chinese-Brazilian “peace plan” to the Ukrainian one to resolve the “Ukrainian crisis”. He aims to erode the already weak support for Ukraine from the Global South and undermine Kiev’s efforts to hold a second Peace Summit.
The UN Secretary General’s visit to an aggressor country that threatens the world with nuclear weapons is a demonstration of contempt for the victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is a new argument for Moscow in its dialogue with the Global South. And it is a gift to Putin, who wants to destroy the existing world order and international law by asserting the right of the strong.
The mere presence of the UN secretary general in Kazan will create for the Kremlin more than just a favourable information background for the BRICS summit, many members of which seek to turn the association into an anti-Western alliance. Guterres’ arrival will give Russian propaganda an excuse to shout from all TV screens and social networks that the UN supports the advancement of the Sino-Brazilian plan to resolve the “Ukrainian crisis”.
The Sino-Brazilian plan comes in a wrapper of beautiful and correct words about “respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and the principles of the UN Charter”. But in reality, this plan does not provide for this. Neither does it provide for the responsibility of the aggressor, nor for payment for the destruction in Ukraine.
The six points of this plan conceal the freezing of the conflict and the deprivation of Ukraine’s right to liberate the territory occupied by Russia.
The UN is now in a serious crisis, and Guterres’ credibility has been undermined both by his stance during the Russian-Ukrainian war and by his reaction to events in the Middle East. After Guterres failed to issue an unequivocal condemnation of Iran’s latest missile attack on Israel, Tel Aviv declared the secretary-general an undesirable person.
And if we take into account that Guterres did not participate in the Peace Summit organised in Switzerland, against this background, his trip to Russia, which is waging an unjust and invasive war against Ukraine, is a more than obvious manifestation of sympathy for the aggressor country.
And this is not the first time these sympathies have been shown. Previously, Guterres was so interested in the resumption of the grain deal, to the point of being ready to meet Russia’s interests. In particular, he offered to lift the financial sanctions imposed by the EU against the Russian Agricultural Bank using a specially established subsidiary of the Russian bank, to insure against Ukrainian attacks Russian ships that would export grain, and to provide access for Russian ships carrying foodstuffs and fertilisers to EU ports.
These proposals by Guterres essentially nullified a number of international sanctions against Russia. The UN secretary-general justified his desire to renew the grain deal on the grounds that he wanted to avoid a global food crisis. And in fact, as the US noted, Guterres’ actions “undermined broader efforts to hold Moscow accountable for its actions in Ukraine”.
Even if Guterres goes to Kazan with good intentions to bring about a just peace in Ukraine, Russian propaganda will portray his visit in a light favourable to Putin within Russia and in the Global South. Ultimately, Guterres’ participation in the BRICS summit may not only discredit him as secretary general, but also the UN.