UKRAINE, Oct 25 — Ukrainian non-governmental organizations have condemned the visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Russia and appealed to the International Criminal Court. This is stated in a joint statement of the organizations. 

On October 22, the BRICS leaders’ summit began in Kazan, Russia. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived at the summit for the first time in more than 2 years. According to Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov, delegations from 36 countries, including 22 heads of state, will attend the event.

In a joint statement, the coalition of NGOs “Ukraine. Five in the Morning” and the Center for Civil Liberties condemn Antonio Guterres’ visit to Russia for the BRICS summit and remind that Putin is under an arrest warrant from the ICC.

“We condemn such actions on the part of Mr. Guterres because, in 2013, guidelines were adopted to regulate possible meetings of UN Secretariat staff with individuals subject to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court,” the statement says.

NGOs emphasized that “such a step looks like a disregard for international justice and calls into question the UN’s neutrality in the conflict.”

“We call on the International Criminal Court and the Office of the ICC Prosecutor to respond to this visit and meeting as undermining the credibility of the ICC’s decisions and the investigation of the most serious crimes of concern to the entire international community, which threaten peace, security, and well-being of the world,” the NGOs said.

In addition, activists asked the Office of the ICC Prosecutor to ask the UN Secretary-General for any information he received during his meeting with the Kremlin leader that could be useful to the investigation.

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