Serhii Kyslytsya, Ukraineʼs ambassador to the UN, said that the visit of the organizationʼs Secretary General Antonio Guterres to the Russian Federation and his meeting with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin contradict the UNʼs line on supporting the work of the International Criminal Court.
Khyslytsya wrote about this on the social network.
The diplomat cited a fragment of the guidelines for potential meetings between representatives of the UN secretariat and people for whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant — as in the case of Putin. These guidelines were approved by Guterresʼ predecessor Ban Ki-moon in 2013.
The quoted passage suggests that individuals subject to an ICC warrant may purposefully seek a meeting with UN officials in order to demonstrate their disdain for the ICC and attempt to undermine its authority.
"The agreement on relations between the UN and the ICC requires that the UN must refrain from any actions that could hinder the activities of the Court and its various organs, including the prosecutor, or undermine the authority of their decisions," the excerpt reads.
What preceded
On October 23, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Kazan (Russia) on the day the three-day BRICS summit began. Guterres met with Putin during his visit to Russia.
Guterresʼ visit caused outrage in Ukraine. According to AFP, President Volodymyr Zelensky refused Guterres a visit to Kyiv because of this.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.