Washington does not respect UN members, Says Zakharova

Moscow, (ST) – The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied US allegation that the Russian delegation members did not apply for visas to attend the work of the UN General Assembly on time.

“Several members of the official Russian delegation have not received US visas to participate in the UN General Assembly,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement quoted by Sputnik. “The United States’ refusal to issue entry visas to a number of Russian delegates to the UN General Assembly session is an example of Washington’s outrageous disrespect towards UN members, Zakharova said.

“The US side is pointing to technical problems with the dates of submission of documents,” Zakharova said. The documents were submitted as scheduled by US diplomats…. The documents we have already submitted (ie, two months before the date of travel) have been returned to us with the notice that they were submitted early. ”

The head of the International Affairs Committee of the Council of the Russian Federation, Konstantin Kosachev, announced that he was unable to obtain a visa from the United States on time and therefore would not be able to participate in the UN General Assembly in New York City.

 “In violation of its obligations to the international community, the US side did not issue visas on time to a number of members of the official delegation, including me and a group of accompanying people who planned to travel to New York today to attend the 74th session of the UN General Assembly,” Kosachev said, adding that this action is unexplainable and inexcusable. ”

Today, the 74th session of the UN General Assembly will kick off in New York to discuss many thorny global and regional issues.

Raghda Sawas