Guterres and Putin: it's complicated

These days, the media has written a lot about "Putin's hunt for the UN Secretary-General" in Kyiv, giving Guterres the aura of a particular enemy of Putin. In this context, one should not forget that Guterres is Putin's creature in big politics. His election resulted from a brilliant Russian special operation at the UN.

Guterres became the trump card that Moscow suddenly pulled out of its sleeve after masterfully discrediting the well-established candidate for the UN Secretary-General position (Natalia Gherman, Moldova) at the very last moment. Since there were no other acceptable candidates at hand, there was nothing left to do but to elect the Kremlin candidate Guterres. 

Grateful Guterres pleases Putin as best he can. Everyone was amazed that he first flew to Moscow and only then to Kyiv. After a warm meeting with Putin, he visits the sites of Russian war crimes against Ukrainians. 

On closer look, one can notice that his statements about Russia's war against Ukraine essentially reiterate the Kremlin's propaganda, albeit in a somewhat more acceptable form for the West.

All crimes in Ukraine, according to Guterres, are to blame for the abstract "war," which he declared "evil." To stop the evil, Guterres proposes a peace agreement in favor of Moscow. 

However, spoiled by the UN Secretary-General, Putin seems to think this is not enough and decided to remind ungrateful Guterres of his obligations by rocket fire.

Although, I would not rule out the initiative of the Russian military, whose interest is to discredit Putin while pretending to be just following his orders. Realizing this, Putin sends the top army to the front line, so they do not sit in his shadow. The last case with Gerasimov is especially indicative.

Let's wait for Putin to send Shoigu to the front line if he can. Shoigu has already changed his military uniform to a civilian suit and sees himself as the new president of the Russian Federation.

Shoigu has experience with successful coups. Suffice it to recall how, being in disgrace, he skillfully removed Defense Minister Serdyukov and took his place.