Putin met with Guterres in the Kremlin. The main thing : The parties discussed the events in Bucha and negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin received UN Secretary General António Guterres in the Kremlin. It is reported by RBC.

According to Putin, for Russia, the maxims of some colleagues that someone in the world is exceptional or claims exclusive rights sound strange.

We believe that the main rule is the UN Charter and other documents adopted by this organization, and not some papers written by someone for themselves or to ensure their interests,” he specified.

The Russian leader noted that some statements by a number of countries that someone is exceptional and claims exclusive rights are also surprising.

Because the UN charter states that all participants in international communication are equal to each other, regardless of their power, size and their geographical location,” Putin added.

After that, the head of state said that Russia knows who prepared the provocation in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, where civilians were found killed. As Putin noted, the Russian army has nothing to do with this.

Unfortunately, after reaching agreements and after our, in my opinion, quite clearly demonstrated intentions to create favorable conditions for the continuation of negotiations, we faced a provocation in the village of Bucha, to which the Russian army has nothing to do. We know who did it. We know who prepared this provocation, by what means, and what kind of people worked on it,” the Russian leader said.

Putin said that a fairly serious breakthrough was achieved at the talks in Istanbul, but after the events in Bucha and statements by the Ukrainian side, the position of the Russian negotiators changed.

They moved away from their previous intentions and put aside the issues of security guarantees, take out the territories of Crimea, Sevastopol and the republics of Donbass. They just refused to do it,” he said, noting that negotiations are ongoing.

António Guterres supports the efforts of Russia and Ukraine to continue the dialogue, but considers Russia's actions in Ukraine an invasion.

We firmly believe that the violation of the territorial integrity of any country is completely inconsistent with the UN Charter. We are deeply concerned about what is happening now,” he said.

The talks between Putin and Guterres lasted about an hour. The President of Russia and the UN Secretary General held talks at a long table.

On Tuesday, Guterres also met in Moscow with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. After this meeting, the UN Secretary General proposed to create a contact group with Moscow and Kyiv on humanitarian issues, in particular, on the organization of safe humanitarian corridors from Ukraine for civilians.

"There was a provocation in the village of Bucha, which the Russian army had nothing to do with," Putin said. "We know who prepared this provocation, by what means, and what kind of people worked on it."

Putin told Guterres he was "aware of your concerns about Russia's military operation" in Ukraine and ready to discuss it, but blamed the turmoil in the country on an "anti-state coup" that overturned a pro-Russian president in 2014.

Guterres reiterated his call from an earlier meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for Moscow and Kyiv to work together with the UN to set up aid and evacuation corridors to help civilians in Ukraine.

On Thursday, the UN Secretary General will meet in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.