Russia ‘alarmed’ as US yet to issue visas for delegation to UNGA meeting

With just weeks to go for the September 19 event, Moscow said not a single member of the Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov-led team has got a US entry visa

Russia’s ambassador expressed ‘alarm’ to UN chief Antonio Guterres over the matter

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Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:00pm, 3 Sep 2022

Russia’s UN ambassador said it’s “alarming” that less than three weeks before the annual meeting of world leaders at the UN General Assembly not a single representative of the 56-member Russian advance team and delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has received a US entry visa.

Vassily Nebenzia said in a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres that “this is even more alarming since for the last several months the authorities of the United States have been constantly refusing to grant entry visas to a number of Russian delegates assigned to take part in the official United Nations events.”

The Russian ambassador stressed that the US, as the host country of the UN, is legally required to issue visas, adding that application to attend the high-level UN meetings starting on September 19 had been submitted to the US embassy in Moscow.

Nebenzia asked Guterres “to once again emphasise to the authorities of the US that they must promptly issue requested visas for all Russian delegates and accompanying persons,” including journalists covering Lavrov’s visit.

Already bad relations between Washington and Moscow have worsened dramatically since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Biden administration sees Russia and President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine as the most acute and immediate threat to international stability, and it has been leading an international coalition supporting Kyiv.

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