NNA - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday against "illusory" attempts to defeat Russia on the battlefield ahead of his first meeting with United Nations chief Antonio Guterres in more than two years for talks set to focus on the conflict in Ukraine.
Putin was speaking in the Russian city of Kazan on the final day of the BRICS summit, a forum Moscow hopes will help forge a united front of emerging economies against the West.
Russia's opponents "do not conceal their aim to deal our country a strategic defeat", Putin said.
"I will say directly that these are illusory calculations, that can be made only by those who do not know Russia's history".
Shortly before he spoke, Russia's lower house of parliament voted to ratify a defence pact with North Korea amid reports that Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to Russia for training and possible deployment in Ukraine.
At the meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping also warned about "serious challenges" in the world and said he hoped BRICS countries could be a "stabilising force for peace".
"We need to continue to push for a ceasefire in Gaza, relaunch the two-state solution and stop the spread of war in Lebanon. There should be no more suffering and destruction in Palestine and Lebanon," Xi said.
Putin said the Middle East was "on the verge of full-scale war".
Putin has faced calls from his BRICS allies to end the Ukraine conflict, which began when Moscow launched a full-scale military campaign in February 2022.
Guterres has repeatedly criticised Moscow's military offensive against Ukraine, saying it sets a "dangerous precedent" for the world.
The two men last saw each other in the first weeks of the offensive, when Guterres travelled to Moscow during Russia's siege of Mariupol in south Ukraine.
Guterres has since been involved in peace efforts between the two sides, helping to broker a deal that allowed Kyiv to safely export grain from its ports in 2022.
There has been little direct diplomatic contact between the two countries since.--AFP
========R.H.
