MOSCOW: Russia’s UN ambassador said on Tuesday that the United States did not grant a visa for Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov to attend a UN Security Council meeting and called it a breach of US obligations as host of the UN
Vassily Nebenzia made the comment at a meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council chaired by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi that he said Alimov had intended to attend.
A UN diplomat said Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had also apparently been denied a visa to attend the same meeting. The main topic of the meeting was upholding the UN charter and strengthening multilateral cooperation.
The State Department as well as the US and Iranian missions to the UN did not immediately respond to requests for comment. China’s mission said it had no information about visa issues.
Nebenziasaid Alimov, who oversees matters related to the United Nations, was invited by Wang and called it “an egregious instance of disrespect” for China’s UN presidency, especially when the topic under discussion was the UN charter.
