UN chief Guterres statements on Ukraine amenable to West's pressure: Russian FM

Moscow [Russia], February 24 (ANI): Expressing his disappointments over UN Chief Antonio Guterres's statement on Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday said that Guterres statements were amenable to West's pressure and were at odds with his status and powers under the UN Charter.
"To our great regret, @antonioguterres has proved amenable to the West's pressure and he made a number of statements on the developments in eastern Ukraine, which are at odds with his status and powers under the UN Charter," tweeted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
He made the remarks during talks with UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen in Moscow.
"All these years, the UN Secretary-General should have demanded that Kiev implement Minsk Agreements, primarily by developing a dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk, which is clearly set out in the Minsk Package of Measures and UNSC Resolution 2202," added MoFA Russia.
The conflict in Donbas between Ukraine's government and the breakaway of Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics has been going on since 2014. The Minsk Agreements, designed to find a political resolution to the conflict, was negotiated by the leaders of France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine -- the Normandy group -- in February 2015. However, the agreement has so far not been observed and sporadic clashes continue. Moscow has repeatedly stated that Kiev is not fulfilling the Minsk agreements and is delaying negotiations to resolve the conflict.
"We intentionally looked up the statistics, past files and dossiers and found that there was not a single conflict, where a Secretary-General, be it Guterres or his predecessors, took the liberty of making similar pronouncements with regard to any other country," said Lavrov.
The Russian Foreign Minister further said that he has instructed the Russian Permanent Representative to the UN in New York Vasily Nebenzya to communicate to Antonio Guterres the assessment of his statements.
"Taking this opportunity and considering the fact that you have been appointed to this position by him personally, I would like to ask you to communicate our assessments to him, if such an opportunity or occasion presents itself," he said. (ANI)