Russia has accused the US of refusing to grant a visa to a diplomat so that he could attend a UN Security Council meeting
This was reported by Reuters, citing a statement by Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN.
Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, stated that the US had not granted a visa to Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Alimov.
According to him, Alimov was due to attend a meeting of the UN Security Council chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
The topic of the meeting was compliance with the UN Charter and the strengthening of multilateral cooperation.
Nebenzia described the situation as a breach of the US’s obligations as the country hosting the UN headquarters.
“Despite all our attempts to persuade the American side to issue him a visa, in the end it was not granted,” he said.
Why Moscow is outraged
According to Nebenzia, Alexander Alimov is responsible for matters relating to UN activities and had been invited to Wang Yi’s meeting.
The Russian representative described the refusal to issue a visa as a “flagrant display of disrespect” towards China’s presidency of the UN Security Council.
He also referred to the “UN Headquarters Agreement”, stating that access to the organisation’s headquarters in New York must be granted to officials from all member states.
What is known about Iran
A UN diplomat told Reuters that Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had likely also been denied a visa to attend the same meeting.
UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said during a briefing that Araghchi was not in New York and was unable to hold a scheduled meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
At the same time, Haq noted that he did not know the reasons for the Iranian minister’s absence.
No comment from the US yet According to Reuters, the US State Department, as well as the US and Iranian permanent missions to the UN, did not immediately provide comments in response to enquiries.
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