The sides talked about international security, events in the Middle East, North and West Africa, Libya and Côte d'Ivoire.
Many states of the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa have been been struck by protests, inspired by protests in Tunisia and Egypt. Yemen and Syria have seen many protesters killed. Mass clashes in Libya started when protesters demanded the resignation of their leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Medvedev called for the conflict to be solved via diplomatic means.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution introducing a no-fly zone on March 17. A military operation started in Libya, involving the UK, France, the USA, Canada, Belgium, on March 19. NATO took full command of the operation on March 31.
Medvedev made a visit to China, where he said that Russia has questions for the UN, saying that violation of the authority of the resolutions is a dangerous tendency. He said that random interpretation of resolution 1973 is unacceptable. The BRICS group of nations stated its support for Medvedev’s point.
Medvedev plans to discuss the topic of the Middle East and the Korean nuclear problem, as well as international cooperation against new challenges and threats, including piracy, on Friday.
Ban Ki-moon plans to talk about nuclear security and the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant.
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, his deputy Gennady Gatilov, Presidential Assistant Sergey Prikhodko, Russian representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin and the president’s press secretary Natalya Timakova are taking part in the negotiations.
The UN is represented by the head of the secretary general’s head of the chancellery, the executive secretary for the European economic mission, the assistant of the secretary general for political affairs and the executive director of the UN office for drug control and crime.
Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that Russia will support him for a second term of office.
The UN secretary general is elected once every five years, with an opportunity for a second term. There is no limit to the number of terms. However, no one has been in office for over two terms. Ban Ki-moon has been in the post since 2007.
