MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2020) Russia expects its diplomats to encounter no repetition of obstacles with getting visas to the United States when traveling to attend the 75th high-level week of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Pyotr Ilyichev, the head of the Department of International Organizations at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik on Saturday.
Last year, the US denied entry visas to 18 Russian diplomats, among delegates from other foreign countries, to attend the 74th UNGA high-level week. This included envoys to the meetings of the First and Sixth UN Committees handling disarmament and legal affairs, respectively. Ilyichev said Moscow regularly raised this issue in its communications with Washington as well as the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly.
"We hope that Washington will become more responsible with regard to its obligations and prevent a repetition of this scenario during the 75th session of the General Assembly. One way or another, our country will continue to oppose in every possible way the US' unlawful visa policies," the diplomat added.
According to the diplomat, Washington's "arbitrary" visa policies have "the most detrimental impact on the efficiency of the organization's work," something that he said was repeatedly called out by other member states as well.
"The US is increasingly abusing its position as the host country of the UN headquarters in order to extract unilateral political dividends and put pressure on the governments of other countries," Ilyichev said.
The 75th session of the General Assembly opened on September 15. While most of the events, including the annual addresses of world leaders, will be held virtually due to COVID-19, a limited number of delegates are expected to physically attend a series of events on the sidelines. The high level week will run from Monday until September 29.
