UN in Contact with US over Visas for Lavrov’s Delegation : Secretary General’s Office - Tasnim News Agency

The United Nations remains in an active contact with the United States over visas for Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s delegation to the General Assembly’s High-Level Week due later this month, the Office of the UN Secretary General said.

Commenting on Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya’s letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to inform the UN chief about visa problems for Russian diplomats, the secretary-general’s press service said: "The Secretary-General and other senior UN officials remain in close contact with the host country and with concerned missions to the UN, including the Russian Federation, with respect to issues under the UN-US Headquarters Agreement."

"We proactively engage with the US Mission on visas for delegations to upcoming UN meetings at Headquarters and liaise with the Mission on specific cases that are brought to our attention. We are doing so in this case," the office told TASS.

The US Department of State has so far left the TASS request for a comment unanswered.

Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday, asking him to discuss with Washington the issuance of US visas for the Russian delegates assigned to the UN General Assembly in September.

None of Russia’s 56-member delegation to the UN General Assembly has been granted a US visa as of September 1, Russia’s envoy to the UN said. Over the past few months, the United States has been denying visas to Russian delegates assigned to UN events, Antonov added.

The High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly, traditionally attended by heads of states and ministers, will begin on September 20. According to the tentative schedule of the event, the Russian minister is to deliver his speech on September 24.