WASHINGTON: Leaked documents showed that the US government was spying on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, believing he was too tilted to accommodate Russian interests.
The classified documents leaked online suggested that Washington had been closely monitoring Guterres, the BBC said.
It was the latest from a leak of secret documents, which US officials were scrambling to get to the bottom of.
The leaked documents contained candid conversations from Guterres about the war in Ukraine and several African leaders.
One leaked document talks about the Black Sea grain deal brokered by the UN and Turkey in July to avert a possible global food crisis.
It suggested that Guterres was so keen to preserve the deal that he was eager to accommodate Russia’s interests.
“Guterres emphasized his efforts to improve Russia’s ability to exports,” the document says adding that even if that involves sanctioned Russian individuals and entities.’
According to the assessment, his actions in February were “undermining broader efforts to hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine,” the leaks said.
UN officials bristled at the leaks that the UN chief was being soft on Moscow saying they wouldn’t comment on leaked documents.
One senior official said that the UN was “driven by the need to lower the impact of the Russuia-Ukraine war on the world’s poorest.”
“That means doing what we can to drive down the price of food,” he said urging to ensure that fertiliser was accessible to the countries that needed it the most.
UN officials were clearly unhappy with US interpretation of Guterres’ efforts. And they said that Guterres had made his opposition to Russia’s war very clear.
Another document from mid-February described a conversation between Guterres and his deputy, Amina Mohammed.
In it, Guterres expressed his “dismay” at a call from EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for Europe to produce more weapons and ammunition due to the war in Ukraine.
The two also talked about a recently held summit of African leaders. Amina Mohammed says, according to the leaked information, that Kenya’s president, William Ruto, was “ruthless” and that she “did not trust him.”
It’s well known that America was among several nations that routinely spy on the UN – but when the information of that espionage come to light, it was highly embarrassing and, for the world’s leading diplomat, potentially damaging.
