The Russian opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya has slammed the UN secretary general, António Guterres, for meeting Vladimir Putin. “It was the third year of the war, and the UN secretary general was shaking hands with a murderer ,” Navalnaya said on X, posting a photo of Putin greeting Guterres. Navalnaya is the widow of Alexei Navalny , the Russian opposition figurehead who died as a Russian political prisoner in February.
It was the third year of the war, and the UN Secretary-General was shaking hands with a murderer pic.twitter.com/BpjsThSKsw Guterres told the Russian president on Thursday that “the Russian invasion of Ukraine was in violation of the United Nations charter and international law ” a readout from the UN chief’s spokesperson said after their meeting on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Kazan, Russia.
Guterres called on Thursday for a “just peace” in Ukraine. Moscow was ready to consider any options to end the conflict in Ukraine but only proceeding from “reality on the ground”, and was “not ready for anything else”, Putin said on Thursday. He accused the west of using Ukraine to “create critical threats to Russia’s security”.
Putin made no denial of North Korean troops being brought into the war as he spoke on Thursday about defence ties with Kim Jong-un’s regime, writes Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor . Asked by a reporter about satellite imagery showing North Korean troop movements, Putin said: “Images.