UN chief's BRICS summit visit stirs global controversy
The unexpected presence of the UN Secretary-General at the BRICS summit has sparked controversy from the beginning. These won't be quelled by the photos and recordings that surfaced online on Thursday. They show Guterres warmly greeting Vladimir Putin and even sharing affectionate hugs with Alexander Lukashenko.
The participation of the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, in the BRICS summit organised by Vladimir Putin has caused quite a stir. Among others, the Ukrainian MFA expressed outrage over his attendance at the meeting.
The chances of the controversies dying down are diminishing. The discussion flared up not only after Guterres' Thursday appearance, but also because of the photos and videos circulating online.
Warm handshakes, affectionate greetings
The official photos from the summit show the UN Secretary-General warmly greeting Vladimir Putin. Guterres shakes the Russian President's hand with a smile, leaning in a gesture of full respect. "This is the end of the UN," wrote Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania's Foreign Minister, on platform X, using a play on words with the English abbreviation UN (ONZ in Polish) and the word "end".
The recording of the greeting with Alexander Lukashenko is even more shocking. It shows António Guterres falling into the dictator's arms. The two men pat each other's backs kindly, and Lukashenko, not wanting to let go of the UN Secretary-General, wraps his arm around him. They walk smiling towards the photographers.
"Can someone take the elderly gentleman home? On this scene, he looks confused, and these people are exploiting him," commented Janis Kluge, an economist and collaborator of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin.
On Ukraine with Putin
Guterres' Thursday address at Putin's summit resonated widely. In it, he called for a "just peace" in Ukraine.
"We need peace in Ukraine. A just peace answering to the United Nations Charter, international law, and the UN General Assembly resolutions," declared the UN Secretary-General.
Seizing the opportunity, he also called for the immediate cessation of military activities in Gaza and Lebanon and spoke about the need for peace in Sudan.
In Guterres' presence, Iranian President Masud Pezeszkian expressed regret over the ineffectiveness of international institutions, especially the UN, in "quenching the fire" in the Middle East.
Not to the taste of the EU and Kyiv
As AFP points out, the peace calls from Kazan do not meet the European Union's expectations. The community urged BRICS leaders to pressure Putin to "immediately end the war he is waging against the Ukrainian people."
According to Kyiv, by going to Kazan, Guterres made a "poor choice," which "will only harm the UN's reputation." The Ukrainian MFA noted that Guterres refused to attend the peace summit organised in June by Ukraine in Switzerland.
BRICS summit
By organising the summit in Kazan, Putin wanted to demonstrate the failure of Western policies of sanctions and isolating his country, especially regarding Global South countries, and also to show the will to end the alleged "hegemony" of the West in global diplomatic relations in favour of a "multipolar world" – evaluated AFP.
After the expansion in January 2024, BRICS will have nine members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. NATO-member Turkey applied for inclusion in this organisation in September.
