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UN Secretary General hopes for de-escalation in Ukraine following Lavrov-Blinken meeting

According to Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Stephane Dujarric, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres continues to call for dialogue

UNITED NATIONS, January 21. /TASS/. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres hopes that the upcoming Geneva meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his US counterpart Antony Blinken will lead to a decrease in tensions in the situation around Ukraine, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Stephane Dujarric said at a briefing on Thursday.

"He (UN Secretary General - TASS) continues to call for dialogue and hopes the upcoming meeting tomorrow between the Secretary of State and the foreign minister would lead to a de-escalation," the spokesman said.

Commenting on statements by US President Joe Biden on the situation around Ukraine at the Wednesday press conference, the spokesman noted that the Secretary General was deeply concerned over the risk of any kind of escalation, including the armed one, in that part of the world.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that on January 21, the Russian top diplomat would meet with Blinken in Geneva. According to her, the two officials would discuss any further steps related to proposals on security guarantees submitted by Moscow.

On December 17, 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry published the draft agreements between Moscow and Washington on security guarantees and the measures of ensuring the security of Russia and NATO member states. Russia-US consultations on these issues were held on January 10 in Geneva, a session of the NATO-Russia Council was held on January 12 in Brussels and a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council where these initiatives were also discussed took place on January 13 in Vienna.

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