The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine criticized the UN Secretary-General for his decision to attend the BRICS summit

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, made a “wrong choice” by agreeing to attend the BRICS summit in Kazan while ignoring the “peace summit” previously initiated by Kyiv in Switzerland.

This statement was made by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the social network X.

“The UN Secretary-General declined Ukraine’s invitation to the first ‘peace summit’ in Switzerland [in June]. However, he accepted the invitation to Kazan. This is the wrong choice, which does not contribute to the cause of peace and only harms the UN’s reputation,” the statement said.

The BRICS summit in the capital of Tatarstan will take place from October 22 to 24, with an expected 20,000 guests. The summit will focus on strengthening multilateralism, integrating new members, addressing the global agenda, and resolving regional conflicts, explained Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov earlier.

Guests and participants of the BRICS summit began arriving in Kazan over the weekend. Today, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and others also flew into the city. Guterres will attend the BRICS summit as an invited guest. The UN noted that he hopes to achieve “important agreements on international development by 2030” during the summit.

BRICS was formed in June 2006 with the participation of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Initially, the group was called BRIC, after the first letters of the founding countries’ names. Later, South Africa joined the union, and the organization became known as BRICS (with “S” representing South Africa). As of early 2024, Egypt, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia have joined. Around 30 more countries have also expressed interest in joining the organization.