António Guterres: Russian troops sent to Ukraine “are not peacekeepers at all”

The general secretary of the UN, Antonio Guterresassured this Tuesday in an appearance before the press that the Russian troops that have been sent to the territory ukrainian they are not “at all” a peace mission, as argued by Russia.

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“When the troops of one country enter the territory of another country without their consent, they are not impartial peacekeepers,” Guterres said outside the UN Security Council.

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“They are not peacekeepers at all,” he insisted, in clear reference to the sending of Russian troops to the breakaway Ukrainian territory of Lugansk and Donetsk ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Guterres was also clearly against the declaration of independence of these two Ukrainian regions by Putin, noting that “this unilateral action is in direct conflict with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations” and contradicts international law.

“The principles of the UN Charter are not an à la carte menu. They cannot be applied selectively,” said the organization’s top representative, who this Monday interrupted a planned trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to return to the United Nations headquarters in New York due to the rapid escalation of tensions in Ukraine. .

The Portuguese diplomat also insisted that the UN “fully supports the sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine”, and stressed that “it is time to return to the path of dialogue and negotiations” to save “the Ukrainian people ( …) from the scourge of war”.

Guterres confirmed on the other hand that Ukraine at the time requested the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission in Donetsk and Lugansk, but it did not end up being carried out because Russia only accepted that it be for the protection of representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“For that reason, it was never possible to approve a peace mission in the Security Council,” he specified.

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Source: Elcomercio

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