The world is facing an unprecedented crisis in the system of multilateral relations, with tensions between major power reaching the highest ever level, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Monday at a UN Security Council meeting chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The UN chief stressed that the world has been faced with unprecedented and interrelated crisis and the multilateral system is experiencing the biggest ever pressure since the establishment of the United Nations.

“Tensions between major powers are at an historic high. So are the risks of conflict, through misadventure or miscalculation,” Guterres said and called for effective multilateral solutions to prevent and settle conflicts, cope with the economic instability and remove challenges to global norms in the sphere of countering the use of nuclear weapons.