Guterres supports Russia’s call to abandon the sanctions imposed on several countries

New York, (ST) – The Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres supported the appeal of the Russian parliamentarian and the Chairman of Russian State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Leonid Slutsky to politicians in the European Union and the United States to abandon the sanctions imposed on many countries so that these countries can cope with the spread of the Coruna virus.

Guterres said in a letter to Slutsky, according to TASS that “I fully share your views on the need for international cooperation to combat some aspects of this global challenge, and I urge member states of the United Nations, including Russia, to support each other in combating the biggest health crisis of our time by funding the Global Humanitarian Response Plan launched in March 2020”.

Guterres indicated in his letter that he called the leaders of the Group of Twenty on the 26th of March for refraining from imposing sanctions that could undermine the ability of countries to combat effectively epidemics and that he reiterated this suggestion in a briefing with members of the Group of Twenty on the 27th of March.

In this regard, Guterres also referred to the message he sent to Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN on the same subject, in which he expressed solidarity with governments and peoples around the world in facing this crisis.

Guterres also announced his support for the call of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet to “reconsider the broad sanctions against countries facing the emerging Corona virus to avoid destroying health systems in any country.”

Raghda Sawas