Russia’s foreign ministry has denied that the UN Secretary General has tried to contact Russian President Vladimir Putin, in recent times, contrary to a statement made by Antonio Guterres’ spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric.
On Tuesday, the spokesman for the foreign ministry in Moscow, Maria Zakharova, published a post in her Telegram channel, citing reports, according to which Dujarric replied in the affirmative when asked if his boss had tried to contact the Russian president following the start of the Kremlin’s military offensive against Ukraine in late February. Zakharova went on to deny that there have been any attempts at communication on the part of Guterres.
“A short comment: no. The UN secretary general has not tried to get in touch with the Russian president,” Zakharova insisted. She added that “no one has made such overtures, either to Russia’s permanent mission to the UN or directly to the foreign ministry.”
Zakharova urged the “representatives of the UN Secretariat to return to reality.”