The secretary-general reiterated at the news conference that splitting the world in two - with the United States and China creating rival economic systems and rules, each with dominant currency, its own Internet, technological strategy and artificial intelligence - must be avoided “at all costs.” Russia and China are often at odds with the United States, Britain and France on key issues, including Thursday on new sanctions against North Korea. Security Council, which does have the power to uphold international peace and security including by imposing sanctions and ordering military action, is divided, especially its five veto-wielding permanent members. Guterres reiterated in the AP interview that the U.N. I’ve been saying that I strongly hope that diplomacy will prevail.” “What for me is essential is that this dialogue leads to a good solution and that that good solution is that there is de-escalation and this crisis ends,” Guterres said. and Russian diplomats agreed to meet again. Expectations were low for a breakthrough and there was none, but the top U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Geneva on the crisis over Ukraine which has seen Moscow deploy tens of thousands of troops on its border and Western nations sending military hardware to Kyiv. “I am convinced it will not happen, and I strongly hope to be right,” he said. President Joe Biden he thinks Russia will not invade Ukraine.Īt the press conference, Guterres said his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin “is that there should not be any military intervention” in Ukraine.
secretary-general, Guterres said in an Associated Press interview on Thursday that the world is worse in many ways than it was five years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and geopolitical tensions that have sparked conflicts everywhere - but unlike U.S. He said he wouldn’t call the dangerous situation today a Cold War or a Hot War but probably “a new form of tepid confrontation.”Īs he starts his second term as U.N. It “never became hot because there was a certain level of predictability,” he said. He said in a wide-ranging press conference that the Cold War was between two opposing blocs where there were clear rules and mechanisms to prevent conflict.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday the current world is “much more chaotic, much less predictable” than during the Cold War between the former Soviet Union and the United States, and it’s dangerous because there are no “instruments” to deal with crises.