REUTERS

Russian President's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov says Russian President Vladimir Putin and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres did not discuss the release of Ukrainian political prisoners at a recent meeting in Moscow.

"No, this issue [the release of detainees] was not discussed. They debated on acute international problems, touched upon the situation with the court, the withdrawal of the United States (from the UN Human Rights Council) and other sensitive issues," Peskov told journalists on June 21, answering a question by UNIAN.

The meeting between Guterres and Putin took place in Moscow on June 20.

Видео дня

According to the transcripts of the open part of the meeting, Guterres said they had two epochal and milestone points to be covered: a statement by President of the United Nations Security Council regarding Ukraine, as well as a debate on the Middle East.

Read alsoOmbudsperson: Reasons to believe hunger-striking Sentsov force-fed in Russian prison

He noted that the UN considered the Russian Federation as one of the key founding countries of the United Nations, a permanent member of the UN Security Council. However, now the organization is especially focusing on the fact that Russia is an indispensable element in creating a new multipolar, polycentric world.

Now is not the easiest time for the UN, Guterres said.

He added that the Cold War had passed, and there was a short period of a unipolar world. But now the UN is trying to find a new structure for a multipolar world with relevant multilateral governance structures. All this causes serious concern. The official believes that Russia should play an active role in this process.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the United States, France, Britain and 35 other countries asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to raise the case of jailed film director Oleh Sentsov and dozens of other Ukrainian prisoners during his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.

Read alsoUN chief urged to raise Ukrainian prisoners in talks with Putin - media

The 38 countries wrote in a letter to Guterres that the case of Sentsov, who has been on a hunger strike since May 14, should be raised as a "matter of urgency" and appealed to him to try to mediate a solution.

Among the signatories were Australia, Canada, many EU countries along with Turkey, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine.

Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nation Volodymyr Yelchenko on Thursday presented Guterres with the letter and a list of dozens of detainees including trade unionist Oleksandr Kolchenko, historian Stanislav Klykh and politician Mykola Karpiuk.