OREANDA-NEWS.  Vladimir Putin had a meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Mr Secretary-General, colleagues, good afternoon,

We are very happy to welcome you in the Moscow Kremlin.

As you may know, Mr Secretary-General, as one of the founding nations of the United Nations, we have been constantly and consistently supporting the leading role of the United Nations Organisation in international affairs, and we value highly your efforts, Mr Secretary-General, in resolving possible, existing and earlier crises on our planet. Your role is very positive and efficient.

We are happy to see you in Moscow, Mr Secretary-General!

UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON: Mr President, it is a great honour and pleasure to visit Moscow so soon after my last visit to Sochi to participate in very successful Sochi Winter Olympic Games, and I would like to congratulate you on the very successful Sochi Winter Olympics as well as Paralympics. Russia has demonstrated great humanity at the Games.

And thank you for welcoming me again at this time in Moscow so soon. I am very grateful for this opportunity of meeting you in person even though we have had some telephone talks to discuss the current situation. I really highly value this opportunity.

As the Secretary-General of the United Nations, I cannot but tell you that I am deeply concerned about the current situation involving Ukraine and also Russia. Russia is one of the most important leadership countries not only in the United Nations and globally.

I had a very good meeting with Foreign Minister [Sergei] Lavrov.