Lavrov and Guterres Discuss UN Reform; Russian Report on Bucha Handed Over

Dragon Media News Desk

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres met in New York on Thursday. The Russian Foreign Ministry said they discussed the organisation’s work and reform during the high-level week of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.

According to the Russian side, Lavrov said the UN needed reform to reflect changing global circumstances. He called for greater representation of people from developing countries in the Secretariat and stressed that UN staff must perform their duties impartially, without favouring any side. He also argued that the organisation should retain its member-state-led character and preserve the division of responsibilities among its principal organs.

During the meeting, Lavrov handed Guterres a report prepared in Russia concerning events in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. The Russian Foreign Ministry called on the UN Secretariat to examine the claims presented in the report in detail. Russia has disputed public accounts of the killing of civilians in Bucha. The UN Human Rights Office, however, has documented unlawful killings of civilians by Russian forces in Bucha and other parts of northern Ukraine. No response from Guterres to the report, or new UN decision concerning it, has been made public.