UN chief António Guterres expects de-escalation to take place. UN stands for the preservation of the “Normandy format” and implementation of the Minsk agreements
He stated this in an interview with Russian media before leaving for Moscow on a visit, which begins on Wednesday.
“We fully support the full implementation of the Minsk agreements, and we fully support diplomatic efforts within the Normandy format”, – Guterres said.
According to the UN head, everyone is concerned about the recent escalation, the violation of the ceasefire agreement. He expects a de-escalation to occur and the ceasefire will be fully respected. He also noted that the UN Council does not claim any leading role, but only wants to be useful to the extent that the participants in the “Normandy format” find our role useful.
An agreement on sending UN peacekeeping forces to Ukraine is unlikely to be reached in the near future, Guterres said.
“There are very different points of view regarding what mandate and what role the peacekeeping forces in Ukraine could play. It is unlikely that an agreement will be reached in the near future”.