Russia has requested 56 visas from the United States to participate in the UN General Assembly, but still has not received them
The Russian side requested 56 visas from the United States for the participation of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his transfer to the annual meeting of leaders of world powers in the UN General Assembly, which will be held from September 20 to 26 in New York in the usual format. This is stated in a letter to the Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, Vasily Nebenzi, sent to the Secretary General of the organization, António Guterres, informs Reuters.
The diplomat’s report said the denial of visas to diplomats is “alarming” as over the past few months, Washington has “consistently rejected entry visa assignments” for delegates from Russia to attend other UN events.
“As of September 1, 2022, none of the 56 representatives of the main delegation and the advance group has received a visa to enter Switzerland. The same situation happened with the accompanying journalists and the usual crew of the minister,” Nebenzi said in a letter (quoted from TASS).
In addition, it is expected that the US authorities have been regularly refusing to issue visas to UN delegates from Russia in recent months. “Among the latest cases of this kind is the attracted visit of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Vladimir Kolokoltsev,” the permanent representative recalled. At that time, the Interior Ministry chief was not issued a visa to attend the UN Police Chief’s Summit in New York, which was held from August 30 to September 1.
A State Department spokesman, commenting on the denial of congressional visas to delegates, said that Washington often draws the attention of all countries to the fact that “applications must be submitted as early as possible” so that there is time for their consideration. According to the US, “they take their obligations as a UN host country seriously.
“This is particularly significant due to Russia’s unwarranted actions against our embassy, including a commitment to a staffing structure that has severely limited our staffing and therefore our ability to process visas,” a US Reuters official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
The Russian delegation to the UN General Assembly was infected by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He should be accompanied, in particular, by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, Chairman of the Federation’s International Committee Grigory Karasin, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the organization Vasily Nebenzya, as well as other politicians and diplomats. Lavrov’s speech at the General Assembly is scheduled for September 24. Since the end of February, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has banned entry to the United States (except in cases of especially suspicious cases) in connection with Washington’s sanctions due to the military operation in Ukraine.
- The high-level week of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York is scheduled for September 20-26. This year it is required that the event be held in the current format. In 2020 and 2021, the action due to the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with some manifestations of increased fat on the video.
- In the “United Nations Headquarters Agreement” of 1947, the United States undertakes to allow foreign delegations to participate in the activities of the organization. At the same time, Washington has the right to refuse visas for complete “security, counter-terrorism and foreign policy,” writes Reuters.