\u201cAbandoning diplomacy for confrontation is not a step over a line, it is a dive over a cliff,\u201d he said
\n UNITED NATIONS:
\nUnited Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned Monday it was time to \u201cdefuse tensions\u201d between Russia and the West over the Ukraine crisis, saying he was \u201cdeeply worried\u201d about the threat of conflict.
\n\u201cThe time is now to defuse tensions and de-escalate actions on the ground,\u201d said Guterres, who earlier spoke to the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine and expressed his serious concern over the situation.
\nCalling for an end to \u201cincendiary rhetoric,\u201d the UN secretary-general told reporters he was \u201cdeeply worried by the heightened tensions and increased speculation about a potential military conflict in Europe.
\n\u201cWe simply cannot accept even the possibility of such a disastrous confrontation,\u201d he said, insisting that \u201cthere is no alternative to diplomacy.\u201d
\nGuterres called on all parties to respect the UN Charter and refrain from \u201cthe threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
\n\u201cAbandoning diplomacy for confrontation is not a step over a line, it is a dive over a cliff,\u201d he said.
\nDuring his telephone talks, Guterres reiterated his message to Russia\u2019s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba, that diplomacy was the only way forward, said spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
\n\u201cThe secretary-general expressed to both foreign ministers his serious concern over the heightened tensions around Ukraine,\u201d Dujarric told reporters.
\n\u201cHe welcomed the ongoing diplomatic discussions to defuse those tensions and underline yet again the fact that there is no alternative to diplomacy.\u201d
\nDujarric said Guterres remained convinced that Russia will not invade Ukraine, a position he expressed during a press conference last month.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t believe his opinion has changed in any way,\u201d said the spokesman during his daily briefing at UN headquarters in New York.
\nThe United Nations has some 1,660 staff in Ukraine including 1,440 Ukrainians and 220 foreigners. \u201cThere are no plans for evacuation or relocation of UN staff\u201d from Ukraine, Dujarric said.
\nThe Security Council is due Thursday to hold an annual meeting on Ukraine and the Minsk agreements, which sought to end war in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cAbandoning diplomacy for confrontation is not a step over a line, it is a dive over a cliff,\u201d he said UNITED NATIONS: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned Monday it was time to \u201cdefuse tensions\u201d between Russia and the West over the Ukraine crisis, saying he was \u201cdeeply worried\u201d about the threat of conflict. \u201cThe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3218,4125,4124,3217],"class_list":{"0":"post-244684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-antonio-guterres","9":"tag-deeply-worried","10":"tag-ukraine-crisis","11":"tag-un-chief"},"yoast_head":"\n